i 




* 



LETTERS, " 

ESSAYS, ANJD) POEMS, 

ON 

RELIGIOUS SUBJECTS. 



BY GEORGE RUSSELL. 



* A Deity believ'd, is joy begun; 
" A Deity ador'd, is joy advanced ; 
" A Deity belov'd, is joy matur'd." 

Young. 



SECOND EDITION, 
REVISED AMD CORRECTED. 



LONDON: 

PRINTED BY J. DENNETT, 
Leather Lane, Holborn: 

FOR W. BUTTON, PATERNOSTER ROW; 

D 3. BURTON, LEADEN HALL STREET \ MAY BE HAD ALSO OF 

SEELEY, FJbEET STREET } KENT, 116, HIGH HOLBORN J 

AND OF ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS. 



1812. 



^0 




ADVERTISEMENT. 



The Author would he wanting in gratitude, if 
he teas not to acknowledge the deep sense of 
obligation lie shall ever retain, of the very candid, 
and indulgent patronage afforded the frst edition 
of his work. He submits a second and corrected 
edition to the fostering care of the public, zcith a 
confident hope, that it will be received zcith equal 
liberality of sentiment, and that his ardent desire 
to benefit more particularly the rising generation, 
icill be sanctioned by their kind auspices. 

The only material alteration hi this edition, is, 
in the Essay " upon the impropriety of dancing 
being taught at religious seminaries of education,'' 
in which he has endeavoured, (zchile he retains his 
decided disapprobation of the amusement ) to dis- 
card the asperity of sentiment complained of by a 
Christian reviezcer, in a former edition; and he 
has added an Essay upon Prayer. 



CROSS 



STREET, NEWINGTON, SURRY, 

December 1, 1811. 



Extracts from the Reviews of the First Edition 
of this Work. 



" Mr. Russell in this Publication has sought the suffrage 
of the Christian rather than the Critic ; it is already ac- 
credited by a respectable list of subscribers, and will 
doubtless meet with as much encouragement as his modesty 
has suffered him to expect. The Author's intentions ap- 
pear pure, and his spirit devotional." 

Eclectic Review, Aug. 1810. 



" The articles contained in this volume are on the most 
momentous subjects, the doctrine is truly evangelical, the 
sentiments striking, and the style highly interesting. Chris- 
tians of every class and condition will here find matter 
suited to their taste and experience.— Some very useful 
remarks on the sin and folly of worldly pleasures are in- 
terspersed throughout, and are worthy of the attention of 
those Professors, who materially injure the cause of reli- 
gion by conformity to the world in a variey of particulars, 
ill according with the purity and strictness of true Chris- 
tianity. On this head we were much struck with the Au- 
thor's Essay on the Impropriety of Dancing being taught at 
Religious Seminaries of Education. 

Manv apposite comparisons and illustrations of religious 
sentiment adorn these Essays, and evince a writer not only 
of sound devotional piety, but of a chaste and elegant 
turn of mind." Christian Guardian, Nov. 1810. 



This little work contains forty-seven Letters and eleven 
Essays, beside the poetic effusions, which form the conclu- 
sion of the volume. The letters we consider a valuable 
part of the work ; they are written with ease and a strong 
savour of piety. The essays also contain a number of va- 
luable hints, particularly that on Prayer Meetings; and 
the whole discover the best intentions. We cordially re- 
commend the volume, especially to young persons." 

Evangelical Magazine, Nov. 1810. 



INTRODUCTION, 



That novelty has an influence upon the mind, 
is a truth generally admitted, Hence, every 
new publication is calculated to excite some 
interest, to claim some attention, and to pro- 
mote, or be destructive, in some degree, of the 
morals and happiness of society. The fame or 
ignominy of an author may be perpetuated by a 
single production of his pen ; and ages yet unborn, 
may have cause to bless or to curse the hour in 
which it first issued from the press. The praise 
of a Watts is in all the churches ; and the pious 
effusions of his muse will probably aid and ex- 
hilarate the devotion of thousands to the latest 
period of time. On the contrary, the writings of 
a Voltaire will attach infamy to his character, and 
encourage the cause of infidelity, it may be, for 
centuries to come : how needful then it is, that 
every literary production should be primarily di- 
rected to the well-being of society. The instruc- 
tions of the minister of the sanctuary is confined 
to comparatively a small circle, and his labours, 
be they ever so abundant, are restricted to the 
short period of human existence ; but who can 
foretel the extinction of a book, or limit the 
boundaries of its circulation ? it may pass through 
successive editions, be translated into foreign 
languages, traverse distant climes, be multiplied 
to an indefinite number of copies, and after 



VI 



INTRODUCTION. 



being out of print for years, again be published, 
and get into extensive circulation and notice. 

A book is a medium of reproof the least 
offensive, and of instruction the most efficacious; 
it has access to the chamber of retirement, it 
occupies the leisure hour, arrests the attention, 
interests the passions, excites reflection, and 
addresses the judgment, the conscience, and the 
heart, with an influence and an authority pecu- 
liarly its own. Unawed by worldly distinction, 
unintimi dated by censure, iminflated by applause, 
with all the native energy of truth, aided by the 
power of language, it admonishes, , directs, con- 
soles, and becomes a permanent and valuable in- 
structor. If, on the contrary, its principles are 
corrupt, like the subtle serpent that betrayed our 
first parent, it secretly, and too often successfully, 
poisons the mind, vitiates the conduct, and renders 
the life miserable for ever. 

Should it be asked does not the press teem 
with new publications? It does. But while the 
Novelist, the Playwright, the Socinian, and the 
Infidel, have liberty to sow tares in the open field 
of literature, surely it is not only lawful, but expe- 
dient, for the Christian author to scatter grain, 
which, with the blessing of God, may produce a 
beneficial harvest to mankind. 

The immediate cause of the following work 
being undertaken, was the unexpected death of a 
beloved child, the dear companion of many a sum- 
mer morning's walk. The sun in its annual course, 
re-visited the oft frequented spot, the flowers 
appeared once more upon the earth, the lark 



INTRODUCTION. 



YIl 



soared on high, the time of the singing of birds was 
come, all nature was gay and cheerful; but the 
mind, depressed by the sudden termination of so 
dear a connection, feared to encounter the scenery 
of past delight, where every object would have 
brought to its recollection departed enjoyments, and 
to " sit still in the house" was more congenial to 
its feelings and its sorrows. 

Sweet babe, but nineteen months didst thou 
sojourn in this vale of tears ; yet long enough to 
twine around a heart susceptible of the artless 
blandishments of infancy, and the attractive influ- 
ence of parental affection. 

Early art thou gone to the " house appointed for 
all living," and thy beloved, thy dear, thy well recol- 
lected name, as yet stands singly on the sepulchral 
stone ; how soon the remaining blank may be filled 
with added instances of mortality, and whether a 
father, a mother, or a brother, will .be the next 
trophy of the last enemy, is known only to that 
God with whom are the issues of life and death. 
May the period be contemplated without dismay, 
and be met with a hope full of immortality ! 

To relieve the mind from the almost constant 
object of its painful attention, to comply with 
the request of a valued friend, and to gratify a 
desire of serving the best interests of society, and 
especially of the rising generation, the following 
work was begun : — it has been prosecuted and 
completed amidst alternate hopes and fears :— 
in its progress, the suffrage of the Christian ra- 
ther than the critic, has been sought, and truth 
rather than talent, has been aimed at. 



VIII 



INTRODUCTION. 



It would be repulsive to the Author's feelings, 
and disrespectful to the numerous Subscribers, 
were he not to avail himself of the present op- 
portunity of tendering them his sincere acknow- 
ledgments for the liberal patronage they have 
so promptly afforded this first effort of his pen; 
he has only to regret that its execution is not more 
equal to his wishes, and more deserving of their 
fostering care. 

With regard to the design of the Publication, 
the Author can say, if the oak is valuable* he 
would plant an acorn ; if the rich men's gifts, cast 
into the treasury, are beneficial, he would offer his 
mite ; and as " there are many members, but 
one body, and the eye cannot say unto the hand, 
I have no need of thee, nor again, the head 
to the foot, I have no need of you; and even 
those members which seem to be more feeble, 
are necessary;" so he would look for a blessing 
from him, who " out of the mouth of babes 
can perfect praise and should he be the instru- 
ment of binding up the broken-hearted, of im- 
parting peace to the wounded spirit; of being 
a guide to the wanderer, or a Barnabas to the 
afflicted; should he remove but one thorn from 
the Christian traveller's path, or lessen but by 
one drop, the bitter draught of human misery, 
his warmest wish will be accomplished, his most 
ardent prayer will be answered. 

10, Cross-Street, Newixgto>-, 
April 10, 1810. 



CONTENTS. 



Part tije jftot. 



LETTERS TO A YOUNG FRIEND. 



LETTER I. 

Page 

The beauty of religion misrepresented by prejudice 
— the ill consequences of its not forming a part of the 
system of education — neither acquired or mental 
talents sufficient to instruct us in the duties of 
Christianity — formal devotion not acceptable to God 
— sincerity essential — general dissipation of the higher 
orders of society — worldly professors condemned — 
hypocrisy conceals but cannot destroy the beauty of 
real religion — Christian affection illustrated by a simile 
—such attachments the source of real happiness • • • • l 

LETTER II. 

False religions as well as hypocrites are to be 
avoided — their danger pointed out — the doctrines of 
salvation by works and by grace defined — -the writer's 
confession of his attachment to the latter doctrine • • 6 

LETTER IIL 

The defence of his sentiments illustrated by 
various similies — the superiority of the works of God 
to those of man — sin not entirely subdued in the 
Christian, but opposed by him — all religious sentiments 



X 



CONTENTS. 



should be tried at the ordeal of scripture — Two 
quotations from St. Paul's epistles, in favour of salva- 
tion by grace 

LETTER IV. 

This doctrine further confirmed by the liturgy, 
articles, prayers, and homilies of the Church of 
England — and connected with the glory of God, and 
with good works — a sketch of the character of its 
opponents 

LETTER V. 

Traits in the conduct of its advocates — their 
benevolence, zeal, and activity commended — the abuse 
of the doctrine no ground of exception to its validity 
— the malevolence and folly of such an objection — 
hypocrites discountenanced by the Church, as well as 
by the world — the native dignity of real religion 
asserted - 

LETTER VI. 

Religion not productive of melancholy — the 
Christian renounces worldly pleasures for more satis- 
fying enjoyments — happiness connected with true piety 
— the superiority of the Christian's hope to the world- 
ling's — Christians though subject to affliction, are 
benefited by them, and supported under them — in- 
stanced by Paul and Silas, and by the martyrs 

LETTER VII. 

Christianity has its enemies, and persecution 
must be expected — God ? s wisdom displayed in causing 
even his foes to advance his glory — neither worldly 
pleasures, wealth, or titles can ensure happiness — the 
danger of mispending time — the wordling's enjoyment 
derived from the creature, the Christians from God — 
the value of time — a criterion whereby the lawfulness 
of amusements may be ascertained 



CONTENTS, 



XI 



LETTER VIII. 

r 

The reproach of the world and the esteem of 
worldly friends must be hazarded, would we be the 
disciples of Christ — the danger of listening to their 
suggestions — courage essential to the Christian cha- 
racter — the bantering of the world an honour — battles 
must be fought, but victory is certain - the love of 
Christ • • 

LETTER IX. 

Reflections on death and judgment, an antidote 
to the fear of man — the necessity of an immediate 
avowal of attachment to the Saviour — an interest in 
Christ the one thing needful — the happiness of the 
believer in life and in death — persecution endured for 
Christ an evidence of an interest in his salvation — 
decision of character necessary — renovation of heart 
essential to the enjoyment of heaven — the love of the 
world and of God incompatible 

LETTER X. 

The Christian has an earnest of future felicity in 
his present enjoyments — the variation of his experience 
described — the superiority of the joys to which he is 
hastening to those he now experiences — he has never- 
theless much to be grateful for — the certainty of his 
hope — his entrance to glory compared to a ship enter- 
ing into port, and to a traveller reaching home — 
consolation to the Christian under his present trials • • 

LETTER XI. 

Death will terminate the Christian's sorrows — 
neither death or judgment a source of alarm to him 
— description of the last day, and of the happiness of 
heaven — godliness profitable in all conditions — en- 
couragement to youth to seek the Saviour • » • * • 



XII 



CONTENTS. 



LETTER XII. 

The enemies of Christ's people would hereafter 
exchange situations with them, but it cannot be— 
Jesus's love an ample recompense for the slights en- 
dured for his sake— the smiles and frowns of the world 
both dangerous to the Christian — God being the pro- 
tector of his people they pass safely through the 
wilderness, as Israel did of old — their deliverance from 
Pharaoh's malice urged as an encouragement to trust 
in God— persecution, though suppressed by wholesome 
laws, still exists and is manifested in various ways, 
especially to young converts — conduct to be observed 
in such circumstances 

LETTER XIII. 

The dearest relative rather to be parted with than 
Christ — the uncertainty of life — sudden death a bless- 
ing to the Christian — the folly of opposing the gospel 
— the death bed of a Christian described 

LETTER XIV. 

The depravity of human nature manifested by 
children, and also by the aversion of' those of rnaturer 
years to God and to his ways — reason, rather than 
revelation, being taken for a guide attributed to pride 
— the irrationality of such conduct — humility essential 
to the reception of divine instruction — the excellency 
of the Bible 

LETTER XV. 

The misery of the despisers of the gospel, and the 
happiness of those who cordially receive it — the ne- 
cessity and advantage of prayer — a desire to love 
Christ an indubitable evidence of love to him — it may 
be subject to doubts, owing to innate corruption, but 
there is no cause for fear, salvation resting not on 



CONTENTS. XIII 

Page 

human merit but on God's faithfulness — a quotation 
from Hervey's Letters • * • • • 8- 



LETTER XVI. 
The grace of faith not always in exercise — this 
circumstance overruled for the Christian's benefit — we 
should look rather to Christ than to our frames and 
feelings — holiness ever a consequence of receiving the 
Saviour — the doctrine of regeneration or the new birth, 
proved by the scriptures, and by christian ex- 
perience — conflicts and temptations, evidences of God's 
love, and productive of growth in grace 86 



LETTER XVII. 
Need of Christ denotes a work of grace begun in 
the soul — afflictions and trials to be expected in the 
Christian course — patience should be exercised under 
them — they are marks of adoption into the family of 
heaven — they are light contrasted with the sufferings of 
the Saviour, and with those of his immediate followers 
— regularity in reading the scriptures, and in closet de- 
votion recommended • 90 



LETTER XVIII. 

The advantage of cultivating an habitual spirit of 
prayer — anecdote of a Scotch divine — the love and 
union of the Saviour to his people illustrated by 
metaphors from scriptures — encouragement to seek 
his favour — his claims asserted — the advantage of de- 
voting the period of youth to his service 95 



LETTER XIX. 
The felicity of communion with God — the com- 
pany of a friend delightful, but far excelled by con- 
verse with God — the difference stated— no way of ap- 
proach to God but through Christ — our obligations to 
the Saviour — conviction of sin essential to our receiving 
b2 



XIV CONTENTS. 

Pare 

Christ — an evidence of his love alone can satisfy a 
soul possessed of his grace - 100 

LETTER XX, 

Self-righteous characters the objects of pity — - 
their danger — the imperfection of the holiest duties 
exhibited — the Christian does not attain perfection on 
earth — holiness an evidence of grace, but not meri- 
torious before God — to trust in good works manifests 
ignorance of the human character, and of the demands 
of God's law — its spirituality explained — -justification 
alone by the merits of Christ — t! e privilege of 
Christian friendship — caution necessary in the choice 
of friends 105 



LETTER XXL 

The advantage of youthful piety — the prevalence 
of example — indelicacy in dress censured — anecdotes 
upon the subject — modern fashions should not be 
sanctioned by women professing godliness — the in- 
fluence of a sister, and the importance of the relation 
to younger relatives 111 

LETTER XXII. 

The brevity of human life a reason for instant 
attention to soul concerns — thoughts of judgment and 
eternity well calculated to counteract worldly in- 
fluence — the rugeedness of the Christian's path should 
hasten his steps towards the heavenly country — he is 
not to be unsocial, but to invite others to join him in his 
pilgrimage —Christianity inspires benevolence — encou- 
ragement to zeal in the cause of God — Talents given 
should be employed tor God — the irresistible influence 
of a holy life US 



LETTER XXIII. 
The zeal of God's enemies should stimulate his 
people to exertion — arguments tor Christum intrepidity 



CONTEXTS. XV 

Page 

— the folly of trifling away time — sudden death not 
uncommon — the instability of human possessions and 
enjoyments 120 



LETTER XXIV. 

Various mementos of "death displayed to view — 
the Christian only can meet the last enemy with a 
smile — the advantages of death to a Christian — the 
fear of death should be overcome — consolations derived 
from the Lord's past goodness in providence, &c. — 
quotation from Flavel 125 



LETTER XXV. 

The fear of death evidences little faith — past 
support an evidence of future deliverance — anecdote 
of a martyr — knowledge without zeal prejudicial — such 
characters prejudice the cause of vital godliness — the 
loveliness of piety in youth — its influence in life and 
in death — the wish of the writer for his corre- 
spondent 130 



XVI 



CONTENTS. 



PART THE SECOND. 



SELECT LETTERS OF FRIEXDSHIP, 



LETTER L 

Page 

Account of an excursion to Winchester and 
Southampton 135 

LETTER BE. 

On Christian experience 141 

LETTER III. 

On Christian experience » 143 

LETTER TV. 

The faithfulness of God 145 

LETTER V. 
The variation of the Christian's religious feelings — 
the benefits of sanctified affliction, and consolations 
offered under it 148 

LETTER VI. 
On the bereavement of friends — how to rightly im- 
prove such dispensations — the salvation of infants 
asserted 151 

LETTER VIE 
On the wrong estimate we are apt to make of 
Christian character « • • 153 

LETTER VIII. 
On communion with God — the uncertain tenure of 
human enjoyments, and the danger of fixing our affec- 
tions upon them 155 



CONTENTS. 



XVII 



LETTER IX. 

Page 



Description of a gentleman's villa — reflections 
on the transient enjoyment of its possessor— and on a 
birth-day » 157 

LETTER X. 
On the removal of relatives by death — -consolation 
to the Christian under such a trial — verses by the iate 
Mr. Ryland, of Northampton • 160 

LETTER XL 

Encouragement to those who are weak in faith 162 

LETTER XII. 
The advantage of communion with the Saviour — 
the danger of uninterrupted prosperity — and the 
benefits of affliction ........... 164 

LETTER XIII. 
On friendship — the advantage of seeking an early 
interest in the blessings of salvation 165 

LETTER XIV. 
Resistance to sin ever the consequence of the re- 
ception of grace • • 167 

LETTER XV. 
The advantages of prayer in seasons of affliction • • • • 168 

LETTER XVL 
Inconstancy lamented — prayer the best antidote • • • • 170 

LETTERS XVIi: XVIII. XIX. and XX. 



Affectionate counsel to a younger brother on his 
entering a religious course 171 to 185 

LETTER XXI. 
To a brother on his marriage 186 

LETTER XXII. 
To a friend on a painful family bereavement 183 



XVIII CONTENTS. 

PART THE THIRD. 



ESSAYS. 

Pa§e 

The Great Assize 191 

The Inward Conflict 193 

On Trusting in God 199 

On Hearing the Word 202 

On Time 205 

On dark Dispensations of Providence 208 

On Prayer Meetings 212 

Ebenezer 216 

On the Impropriety of Dancing being taught at Reli- 
gious Seminaries of Education • 222 

A Parent's Reflections ■- 234 

On Prayer 237 



PART THE FOURTH. 
POEM-. 

A Tribute of Respect to the Memory of an affec- 
tionate Mother 24o 

On observing a Fly in a Bason of Milk 244 

The Wish 24o 

To the Memory of a Christian Friend ibid, 

Unbelief pejudicial to t.,e Soul's Happiness 246 

To the Memory of Mrs. Adams * 247 

On the Sabbath 2^8 

Laura 250 



CONTENTS. XIX 

Page 

The love of Christ • 251 

The Contrast ibid. 

By Grace are ye Saved 252 

Serious Reflections » 253 

For a Watch Paper 254? 

Christian Experience « • 255 

A Wedding Hymn • » • • 256 

For a Child's Sampler 257 

On hearing a Bird sing at Break of Day 258 

To the Memory of the late Rev. W. E. Faulkner, 

B. D. 259 

On observing a Diamond Cross suspended from the 
Necklace of a young Lady, who was alighting 
from a carriage at the door of Covent Garden 

Theftre 260 

Maternal Fears suppressed by Christian Hope ibid. 

Jesu's presence delightful 251 

Lines written on the back of the profile Shade of 

my Mother • • • 262 

The Soul under conviction of Sin • 263 

A Father's Tribute of Affection to the Memory of 
a beloved Child • • 264 



LETTERS, ice 



Part tlje tftts't* 



LETTERS TO A YOUNG FRIEND. 



LETTER L 

Dear ***** 

I take up my pen with pleasure to perform 
the promise I made in one of my last letters, 
which was to write to you at some future period 
upon the subject of religion ; little need however 
be said to recommend it, since it possesses in it- 
self a beauty and an excellence that is above all 
praise : but as it is a topic frequently viewed in 
very different lights, it behoves me, as a friend, to 
suggest to your mind a few ideas, which will I 
hope not only heighten your esteem for it, but 
be an antidote to those misrepresentations which 
prejudice and ignorance so frequently give of it. 
It is to be lamented that in the education of both 
sexes, and particularly of yours, religion seldom 
forms a prominent feature in its system ; the ac- 
complishments of the person are indeed attended 
to with a scrupulous exactness, but the more solid 



2 



LETTERS. 



perfections of the mind are left uncultivated : thus 
while the casket is richly embellished, the jewel 
which it contains is suffered to continue in its 
pristine state ; no effort is made to draw forth 
its beauty, and with a capability of displaying 
the highest lustre, it remains beneath the artifi- 
cial glare of external endowments, unknown 
and unimproved. The grace of a minuet step, 
and the easy familiarity of a polite address, are 
objects of attainment assiduously sought after, 
but the meek and amiable virtues which charac- 
terise Christianity, are discarded, as not suffi- 
ciently modern or fashionable for those who, by 
birth and fortune are destined to move in the 
higher spheres of life : to this evil primarily is 
to be attributed the general ill conduct of that 
part of the community : their depravity of man- 
ners, and the frequent instances of levity and 
folly they exhibit to the world, are in themselves 
conclusive evidences or the fact, and prove be- 
yond the possibility of a doubt, the ill effects of 
what is termed a genteel education. To what 
are their many deviations from rectitude and 
virtue owing, but to a sad neglect in early life of 
moral and religious duties ? had the principles of 
piety been then inculcated, the mind might have 
retained the favourable impression to its latest 
hour ; but destitute of its sacred influence, it 
is easily allured by the blandishments of plea- 
sure, and it listens to no other voice but that 
which wooes it to destruction. It is admitted 
that neither acquired knowledge nor inherent 
abilities, will of themselves alone instruct us in 



LETTERS. 



3 



our duty, either towards God or our neighbour, 
for they are qualities not unfrequently found in 
the most immoral and profane ; but I would 
not on that account depreciate them ; they are 
eminently useful when employed in the service 
of religion, and all that I would observe is, that 
it is possible to possess both natural and acquired 
advantages, and yet be as destitute of the know- 
ledge of Christianity as an heathen. In proof 
of this I need only refer to the infidels of the 
present day, among whom are to be ranked men 
of literature and talent : neither are refined ac- 
complishments and polished manners always con- 
nected with the graces of the spirit and the 
charms of real godliness ; for behold the courtly 
circle, who pay their respects with the greatest 
elegance of manners to an earthly prince, but 
who are seldom if ever found bending their knee 
to that illustrious Monarch, " in whose favor is 
life," whose territories have infinitude for their 
space, and eternity for their duration. It is an 
indisputable fact that the drawing room by many 
is more frequently attended, than the courts of 
God's house ; and that while the minutiae of form 
and ceremony are attended to with the nicest pre- 
cision in the one place, the most careless indiffe- 
rence and unconcern is manifested in the other. 
Believe me, my young friend, it is not an ap- 
pearance once a week at this or that place of 
worship that constitutes us Christians ; we may 
perform at such seasons a ritual of devotion, and 
repeat by heart the most excellent forms of 
prayer, but all amounts to nothing, if the heart 



4 



LETTERS. 



be wanting ; it is that alone which God requires, 
and it is that which we are bound to give him by 
every tie of affection and gratitude. The old 
adage is indeed very applicable, " All is not gold 
that glitters ; sincerity is an essential requisite 
to real piety ; and where it is wanting, the loud- 
est profession only paves the way to marked and 
merited contempt. It is not from die higher 
circles of life alone, that real Christianity seems 
to be banished • generally speaking, I believe there 
is much more duplicity and hypocrisy in the mid- 
dling classes of society. The great and noble 
of the earth are for the most part above what 
they call the prejudices and restraints of reli- 
gion ; they not only affect a total disbelief of its 
doctrines, but they cast them entirely aside, 
living in direct violation of, and despising, 
even an external regard to its most positive 
commands : witness their Sunday revellings and 
concerts, their banquettings and card parties, and 
a thousand other abominable practices, the report 
of which defile our newspapers, and give an 
open sanction to the immorality of the lower 
classes ; but in the middle orders of society, 
where sordid interest often sways the mind, 
the garb of sanctity is frequently put on, because 
it is found connected with temporal advantage. 
Those whose subsistence depends upon their 
success in trade, I fear too often make a re- 
ligious profession from sinister designs, than 
which nothing can be more truly contemptible ; 
they carry on their hypocrisy for a season, it may 
be with success, and with a fair surface they im- 



LETTERS. 5- 

< 

pose upon the credulous and unwary, but their 
base conduct sooner or later is generally made 
manifest, and if it escapes punishment here it 
will no doubt meet with merited condemnation 
hereafter. I am extremely sorry that the doc- 
trines of the gospel should be abused by false 
professors, but it gives me still greater concern 
to think that any one should be so silly as to form 
an ill opinion of them on that account ; since 
real religion is no more depreciated by the hypo- 
crisy of a few, than the current coin of the king- 
dom is affected by its having a counterfeit ; but I 
intend to shew the absurdity of this frivolous and 
too general objection more fully in another place. 
These are a few of the causes, why there are so 
many nominal and so few real Christians ; so 
many, Mho in appearance are saints on the sab- 
bath, and sinners all the rest of the week : so 
many, who lay aside their religion with their 
Sunday apparel, or consign it with their prayer 
or hymn books to the safe custody of the church 
or meeting, till their next visit thither. That 
there are characters of this description all must 
allow, else why is the theatre continually thronged, 
and the courts of the Lord but occasionally 
attended ? why does the novel find access to 
the chamber while works of devotion and real 
worth are excluded r and why is not religion 
as general a topic of discourse in the parlour 
as it is in the pulpit ? the reason is obvious, 
it possesses not the heart, and therefore it 
seldom graces the lips : nothing is more natural 
than to talk of what we love, hence the ruling 
e 2 



6 LETTERS. 

propensity of the mind is to be easily dis- 
covered : the worldling speaks of his riches, 
the lover of his mistress, the patriot of his 
country, and the Christian of his God ; and as 
a similarity of disposition, classes different orders 
of society, so Christians feel an attractive in- 
fluence of mutual affection, and as an elegant 
and pious author once observed, " their hearts 
are like drops of water, which meeting, im- 
mediately become one.*" Of such connections 
I conceive the most exalted ideas of happiness ; 
they seem to exhibit a picture of heaven itself, 
the harps of whose blessed inhabitants, like the 
strings of a well tuned instrument, are ever in 
concord, they express the same notes of love, 
they unite in the same hallelujahs of praise. 



LETTER II. 

There are not only many false professors 
of religion in the world, but there are likewise 
false religions ; — and as the meteor under the 
guise of friendship will allure the benighted tra- 
veller to an apparent place of safety, but leave 
him beside some dangerous precipice, so there 
are religions, that seemingly present a clue to 
heaven, but hide under their disguise inevi- 
table ruin and destruction : nay more, there is a 
religion which assumes the name of Christianity 



• Jay. 



LETTERS. 



7 



itself, which has as little of its essence as J udaism 
or Mahometism. May I be enabled so to de- 
scribe to you the difference, that you may every 
day be stimulated to seek a more intimate ac- 
quaintance with the one, which in every sense 
merits your highest affection and esteem ! At 
the present moment there are two very opposite 
doctrines promulgated ; — one of them supposes 
man to be a free agent, not only possessed of 
the power but also the will of obeying the com- 
mands of his Creator ; it looks to final happiness 
as the reward of obedience, and it repels with 
disdain the idea of human nature having fallen, 
supposing it still possessed of qualities very 
nearly allied to perfection. Its votaries conse- 
quently have a high notion of moral rectitude, 
and rest upon the presumption, that iheir own 
good works are sufficient to entitle them to hea- 
ven ; all other foundations they deem chimerical 
and erroneous. Hence they reject every tenet 
that is not perfectly clear to their understanding, 
and human reason, rather than the word of God, 
is the ordeal at which they try every religious 
sentiment. They argue that their goodness will 
be rewarded because God is good, that their 
sins will be pardoned, because he is merciful, 
and that their general rectitude of conduct, 
will fully atone for what they term the un- 
avoidable frailties of human nature. They be- 
lieve that they possess in themselves a free and 
sovereign will to make their election of happi- 
ness or misery, and that none will! finally perish 
but the abandoned and profligate. They argue 



8 



LETTERS. 



that there is the greatest stimulative to noble 
and virtuous actions, in the idea of Heaven 
being the reward of them, and that there is the 
most powerful preventive to evil in the fear of 
eternal punishment. These doctrines seem at 
first view favorable to morality, but they are 
dangerous, inasmuch as they are totally repug- 
nant to the Scriptures and to the testimony of 
experience : of this I hope fully to convince 
you before I conclude. I proceed now to the 
other doctrine, which, though it has the bible for 
its foundation, and truth for its authority, is by no 
means generally received or believed in : it re- 
presents man to be a fallen creature, in his na- 
tural state an enemy to God by wicked works, 
averse to every thing that has a tendency to holi- 
ness, " the imagination of the thoughts of his 
heart to be only evil and that continually.' 7 It 
asserts that this polluted spring defiles all his ac- 
tions, and it gives credence to the Saviour's de- 
claration that " from within, out of the heart of 
men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, 
murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, 
Liseiviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, fool- 
ishness/' It derives these lamentable inferences, 
first from the scriptures, and secondly from matter 
of observation and fact. To the sacred word of 
God it refers every disputative opinion, and it yields 
a willing assent alone to its decision : from its 
venerable pages it learns the melancholy tale of 
our first parent's transgression, and the ruin 
which their act of disobedience entailed upon all 
their posterity : as proof of the authenticity of 



LETTERS. 



9 



this affecting narrative, it refers to the sad effects 
of the fall in the innumerable calamities to which 
human nature is subject, for it believes that 
man would not have been " born to trouble as 
the sparks fly upward/' if he had not been 
" shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin/' This 
doctrine further represents man as totally inca- 
pable of turning himself unto God, till he is 
called by grace, and is awakened by the convicting 
powers of the Holy Spirit, to a sense of his dan- 
ger as a sinner, and to his need of Christ as a 
Saviour ; it states, that till then he has no love to 
God, that his affections being " sensual, earthly, 
devilish," are set upon vanity and folly, and that 
he goes on pursuing death in " the error of his 
way/* having " a heart fully set in him to do evil," 
" a heart that is deceitful above all things and des- 
perately wicked." That hence he listens not to the 
invitations of the gospel, but rejects with disdain, 
every effort made to bring him to the knowledge of 
the tipth as it is. in Jesus. It further believes that 
as soon as the happy period arrives in which, 
through distinguishing grace and mercy, he is to 
be emancipated from the tyranny of sin and Satan, 
he continues no longer the subject of delusion, nor 
the willing slave of his own lusts, but has his 
" fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life." 
The mists of error being dispelled by the bright 
shining of the " sun of righteousness," the . day- 
spring from on high visits him, his affections re- 
ceive a new bias, the glories of redemption are 
unfolded to his view, in all their lustre and perfec- 
tion, and it being " the day of God's power," he 



10 



LETTERS. 



becomes one of his willing people, and yields him 
as a tribute of his love, " the obedience of faith." 
It asserts that from this period he rejoices in the 
belief that Christ " was delivered for his offences 
and raised again for his justification ; and that he 
henceforth regards the Saviour as " the chief among 
ten thousand and the altogether lovely :" that the 
ordinances of his house, which lately he slighted, 
he now constantly attends ; that the people of 
God, whom once he locked upon as " the off- 
scouring of all things/' now become in his es- 
timation " the excellent, in whom is all his de- 
light;" and that with David he can address the 
Lord and say, " I am a companion of all them 
that fear thee, and of them that keep thy pre- 
cepts." This doctrine is not inimical to morality, 
for it teaches all its adherents to " be careful to 
maintain good works," and to " adorn the doctrine 
of God our Saviour in all things," but it re- 
lies not upon them, but upon the atoning blood 
and justifying righteousness of Christ alone for 
salvation. As these sentiments perfectly coincide 
with my views of the truth, I shall attempt a jus- 
tification of them, and assign some reasons for my 
perfect assent to them ; and first, that good works 
cannot be the terms of our acceptance with God 
is evident, from the consideration, that could they 
have introduced us to his favor, a Saviour had not 
been needed nor his grace; but the truth is, 
we are in captivity, and therefore we need a ran- 
som ; we are not only involved in original guilt, 
but we have likewise committed actual sin, in 
thought, word, and deed. All our works are de* 



LETTERS. 



11 



fective; and after we have done all tilings we 
must say we are " tmprofitable servants." Our 
best services more or less partake of sin, and the 
scriptures declare that " there is none righteous, 
no not one " that " every mouth is stopped, and 
that all the world is become guilty before God." 
Hence the infinite value of redemption, and 
hence it is our mercy that Christ " is made unto 
us wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification 
and redemption." I remark, secondly, that good 
works are ever the sure consequences of faith, 
though they are not the procuring causes of it: 
this is evident from the very nature and spirit of 
the gospel : this point cannot be more beautifully 
illustrated than in the striking metaphor to which 
we are directed in the scripture, " every good tree 
bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree 
bringeth forth evil fruit : as a good tree cannot 
bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree 
bring forth good fruit ; wherefore by their fruits 
ye shall know them." Christ says, " I am the 
vine, ye are the branches, : he that abideth in me 
and I in him, the same bringeth forth much 
fruit." It is therefore a libel upon truth, nay 
more, it is blasphemy itself, to say, that the doc- 
trines of the gospel are the doctrines of licen- 
tiousness. Christians nevertheless have no rea- 
son to boast of their works, for what have they 
which they have not received ? all their works 
are wrought in them by the Almighty power 
and energy of God's Spirit, and therefore Paul, 
after labouring more abundantly in every good 
word and work than all the other apostles, justly 



12 



LETTERS. 



exclaims, " By the grace of God I am what I 
am." I will endeavour to illustrate this point by 
a similitude or two from natural objects in a fu- 
ture letter; for the present I shall bid you adieu, 
intending to take up my pen again the first op- 
portunity, which I cannot employ with more 
pleasure to myself, than in writing to you upon 
this interesting and important subject. 



LETTER III. 

I concluded my last letter with observing 
that Christians had no right to make a merit of 
their good works, because they were wrought in 
them by the Spirit of God, and not by any native 
powers of their own 5 and I added that in a 
subsequent letter I would endeavour to illustrate 
this point by a few similitudes. I now hasten to 
acquit myself of the promise I then made. — You 
have no doubt often contemplated the moon 
whose light irradiates the heaven, and gives the 
earth a kind of artificial day ; — you are probably 
acquainted that it possesses in itself no inherent 
property of perfection ; its light is derived from 
the sun; and hence in all its splendour it 
exhibits only borrowed glory ; when the earth 
at the time of an eclipse passes between the 
two orbs, it appears only a dark body, without 
any principle of loveliness or beauty : apply this 
to the Christian and it will hold good; he re- 
flects the Saviour's glory while the Spirit irra- 



LETTERS. 



IS 



diates his mind ; hence the Psalmist says, " in thy 
light shall we see light but as soon as his grace 
withdraws, it " is a day of darkness and of 
obscurity ; a day of clouds and of thick darkness " 
The tree that in the summer months is decked 
with beauteous blossoms, could not display them, 
if the sap, which is its life, was taken from it; in 
such a case it would be fit only for the fire; 
expressive emblem of the Christian ! he has 
no more cause to exult in the goodness of his 
works, than the tree has to boast of the beauty 
of its blossoms ; for Christ has said, " as the 
branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it 
abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye 
abide in me." Would it not be silly, do you 
think, to attribute to the golden vessel of the 
sanctuary any merit, because it contained the con- 
secrated oil r equally ridiculous is it for Chris- 
tians to be proud, because they are made " vessels 
of honour, sanctified and meet for the master's 
use ;" rather does it behove them to say with the 
prophet, " but now, O Lord, thou art our Fa- 
ther! we are the clay, and thou our potter, 
and we are all the work of thy hand/' In the 
season of the year, when nature wears an as- 
pect of universal joy, I dare say you frequently 
walk in a flower garden, and notice with much 
pleasure the beautiful objects which adorn it ; the 
richest display of colours strike your eye, while 
the most grateful odours regale your senses. 
How eminently do flowers attest their Creator's 
praise, and shew his glory ! it is thus we ought to 
shine. What elegance, yet what neatness and 

c 



14 



LETTERS. 



simplicity is in their dress ! Where is the prin- 
cess, though adorned with all the paraphernalia 
of royalty, and glittering with diamonds, who 
appears half so lovely ? The scriptures assert, 
that a lily of the field surpasses in its ap- 
pearance a " Solomon in all his glory ;" his gran- 
deur is eclipsed by the rose, his magnificence 
outvied by the tulip. Now the ground of itself 
would never have produced these beautiful 
flowers; in vain would you have sought for a 
nosegay, if the roots had not been planted there 
by the gardener ; nor would they have flou- 
rished had they been left to themselves, for 
" thorns and thistles," since man's transgression, 
are the natural product of the ground ; but under 
careful nurture and management, they exhibit to 
our view a picture of unequalled richness and 
beauty: in vain does the finest pencil of art 
emulate their perfections; its labours are in- 
effectual, its best efforts serve but as a foil 
to their inimitable lustre. Viewed with the mi- 
croscope the choicest productions of a Baptiste/* 
appear but as so many blotches of paint indis- 
criminately thrown upon the canvas, whereas a 
wild flower, a daisy, or a blade of grass, beheld 
through the seme medium, unfolds to view, a thou- 
sand charms : why is this ? the one is the produc- 
tion of a man, the other of God. The human 
mind may justly be compared to an uncultivated 
garden, its ill habits and vices to weeds and 
thistles; the gardener exemplifies the Saviour, 



* A celebrated painter of flower?. 



LETTERS. 



15 



the flowers the various graces which he imparts ; 
and the dew, the influences of his Spirit, which 
are as reviving to the Christian as the exhalations 
of the early morn are to the tender flowers. 
Flowers you know are unconscious of their per- 
fections, and true Christians are equally diffident 
of their graces; " in lowliness of mind, they 
each esteem others better than themselves 
like mirrors they reflect beauties not their own, 
and gather all their excellence by displaying his 
likeness who is " over all, God blessed for ever." 
Were they to attach any glory to themselves, it 
would be." not rendering to God, the things that 
are God's:" they may be compared to the pel- 
lucid stream, which, as it glides smoothly along, 
reflects on its unruffled surface a picture of the 
heavens ; while the sun shines clear, the waterv 
mirror retains the beauteous resemblance, but as 
soon as it withdraws its light, the enchanting 
prospect disappears; — thus is it with the Chris- 
tian ; while the sun of righteousness illuminates 
his mind, all is gay and cheerful, but the instant 
it departs, clouds and thick darkness succeed; 
the curtain of night obscures from his view 
the beauties of the heavenly country, and, to 
change the figure, the heir of hope becomes the 
victim of despondency. To return to my first 
allusion, as in the best ordered garden, w eeds oc- 
casionally make their appearance, so in Chris- 
tians, though the reigning love and power of sin 
be subdued, it is not entirely destroyed ; Dagon 
has fallen, but his stump remains; nevertheless, 



16 



LETTERS. 



as the ground that was once useless and unpro- 
fitable, assumes a new and pleasing form, under 
the skilful management of the gardener, so in 
the hearts of God's people, a similar improve- 
ment takes place, by various graces being im- 
planted therein, which, refreshed by the dews of 
the Spirit, and nourished by his constant care, 
like flowers, emit the sweetest fragrance, and dis- 
play the richest charms, though in an earthly 
soil ; nor can it be otherwise, since it is written, 
" I the Lord do keep it ; I will water it every mo- 
ment; lest any hurt it I will keep it day and 
night." From these remarks you will observe 
how great a difference there is in the doctrines 
to which I have alluded, and you will readily 
acknowledge that both cannot be right; it be- 
hoves us to be very careful how we adopt either 
of them as our own, till we are fully satisfied of 
it's validity: the scripture is the only criterion 
by which truth and error can be discovered, and 
on their authority, I hesitate not to pronounce 
the first mentioned doctrine repugnant both to 
reason and revelation. I could produce innu- 
merable quotations from holy writ in support of 
this assertion, but they would exceed the limits 
of a letter, and therefore I must content myself 
with referring you to the Scriptures themselves, 
in which you will meet with ample proof of the 
fact : two passages, however, particularly strike 
my attention, and as they are immediately to the 
point, I will take the liberty of noticing them ; the 
one is in Paul's epistle to Titus, where he says, 



LETTERS. 



17 



a not by works of righteousness which we have 
done, but according to his mercy he has saved 
us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing 
of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abun- 
dantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour ; that 
being justified by his grace, we should be made 
heirs, according to the hope of eternal life." 
The other passage is in his epistle to the Ephe- 
sians, " But God (who is rich in mercy) for his 
great love, wherewith he loved us, even when we 
were dead in sins, hath quickened us together 
with Christ (by grace ye are saved) ; and hath 
raised us up together, and made us sit together 
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the 
ages to come he might shew the exceeding 
riches of his grace in his kindness towards us 
through Christ Jesus ; for by grace are ye saved, 
through faith, and that not of yourselves it is 
the gift of God ; not of works, lest any man 
should boast." I think language cannot be more 
clear and expressive than this, nor the doctrine 
of salvation by free grace, be more satisfactorily 
established. When it is considered that these 
passages have many, very many others of exactly 
the same tendency, the bible must be rejected as 
erroneous, before the first mentioned doctrine can 
be received as the truth, for it is evident that 
the two systems are in direct opposition to each 
other, 



\ 

c o 



18 



LETTERS, 



LETTER IV. 



In addition to the authority of the scripture, 
for what I have advanced, I have another proof, 
which, with those who profess themselves to be 
members of the established church, deserves consi- 
derable attention ; it is, that the articles upon which 
that church is founded, are as much in favour of 
the doctrines I have vindicated, as the scriptures. 
Perhaps you may not know that at the time the 
Church of England separated itself from the 
superstitions of popery, the pious reformers, 
by whose indefatigable zeal and industry in the 
hands of God, the glorious work was atchieved, 
drew up the present excellent liturgy and form 
of prayer, which is an admirable composition, 
and well expressive of the wants and feelings 
of the Christian : a summary explanation of the 
doctrines and tenets was added, under thirty-nine 
heads or articles, to be as it were a bulwark 
against any innovation that might in after times 
be made : I wish you much to read them with 
attention, as they will tend in a great measure to 
give you an insight into the difference between 
the doctrines of which I am now speaking ; you 
will find them in many prayer books, (though of 
late it has been customary, because probably 
they are of too methodistical a cast, to omit 
them,) and as they are the key or foundation 
stone of the Church of England, you will not, I 
am sure, neglect perusing them : the eleventh ar 



LETTERS. 



19 



tide runs thus, " We are accounted righteous 
before God, only for the merit of our Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our 
own works, or deservings :" and the tenth asserts, 
that " the condition of man, after the fall of Adam, 
is such, that he cannot turn and prepare himself 
by his own natural strength, and good works, 
to faith and calling upon God, wherefore we 
have no power to do good works pleasant and 
acceptable unto God, without the grace of God 
preventing us, that we may have a good will, 
and working with us, when we have that good 
will." How charmingly in unison with the 
Scriptures are these sentiments ! how strictly 
evangelical ! what a happiness would it be, if 
all who took upon themselves the ministerial 
office, preached these doctrines : — and they are 
bound by the most solemn ties to do it, but, 
alas ! I fear that with many, a good living rather 
than good doctrine is the chief incentive for 
entering upon the sacred office ; hence is it to be 
wondered at, that with such a disposition, they 
evince more regard for the tythes than they do 
for the souls of their parishioners r — I w ish the ill 
conduct of many of them did not justify this 
surmise. The ordinances of the Church of 
England are as much in favor of the preceding 
sentiments as the articles; hence in the communion 
service, those who are admitted to the heavenly 
banquet are taught to pray, " We do not pre- 
sume to come to this thy table, O Lord, ! trusting 
in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold 
and great mercies : we are not worthy to gather 



20 



LETTERS. 



up the crumbs that fall from thy table ; but thou 
art the same Lord, whose property is always to 
have mercy and to forgive : grant us therefore, 
gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear 
Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that 
our sinful bodies may be made clean by his body, 
and our souls washed through his most precious 
blood, and that we may evermore dwell in him, 
and he in us/' The other prayers of the Church 
of England are in the same self-renouncing, hu- 
miliating, becoming language ; but were I to ad- 
vance all the evidence with which the scriptures, 
the articles, homilies, and ordinances of the Church 
furnish me, I should swell my letter to the size 
of a volume, but these instances are I trust 
sufficient to prove that salvation is from first to last 
all of grace. I am the more earnest in insist- 
ing upon this doctrine, because I am convinced 
it has truth for its foundation, the glory of God 
for its object, and good works for its fruit. — As it 
would be absurd to think of building a house 
without materials, equally so is it to attempt the 
performance of good works without the grace 
of God ; where this is wanting, all is wanting : 
the best concerted resolutions die away ; the first 
temptation or allurement overcomes them ; hence 
the Psalmist, after having conquered his enemies, 
declares, " if it had not been the Lord who was 
on our side, now may Israel say ; if it had not 
been the Lord who was on our side, when men 
rose up against us, then they had swallowed us 
up quick ; when their wrath was kindled against 
us : then the waters had overwhelmed us, the 



LETTERS. 



m 



stream had gone over our soul ; then the proud 
waters had gone over our soul : blessed be the 
Lord who has not given us as a prey to their 
teeth ! our help is in the name of the Lord 
who made heaven and earth." But if Omnipotence 
is on our side, who shall harm us ! the battle is 
not ours but the Lord's, and he will " compass 
us about with songs of deliverance." Hence, 
says David, " Let all those that put their trust 
in thee, rejoice ; let them ever shout for joy, be- 
cause thou defendest them : let them also that 
love thy name be joyful in thee, for thou, Lord, 
wilt bless the righteous ; with favor wilt thou 
compass him as with a shield/' Good works are 
wrought in us by the Spirit of God, and there- 
fore we can arrogate to ourselves no merit on 
their account, for " who maketh us to differ 
from another ? and what have we that we have 
not received r" and after all, our best perfor- 
mances are so defective, that we cannot urge 
them as the plea of our acceptance with God ; 
nothing but the alone merits and mediation of 
Christ can justify a guilty sinner before a God 
of infinite purity and perfection ; but there is 
94 strong consolation for those who have fled for 
refuge, to lay hold upon the hope set before 
them (in the gospel) which hope they have as 
an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast." I 
will now rest all the foregoing arguments upon 
one remaining proof ; there are those in the 
world who will neither be convinced by scrip- 
ture, nor by the doctrines taught in the Church 
of England ; it may seem rather a difficult point 



LETTERS. 

to set these matters so immediately home to 
their comprehension, as to oblige them to ac- 
knowledge the consistency of the tenets they 
oppose, or to doubt their own powers of judg- 
ment ; but I will attempt it : the proof I bring 
forward is, the good conduct, the " patient con- 
tinuance in well doing" of those who seek for 
justification by faith ; and the ill conduct of 
those who seek it by works ; and if on inquiry, 
the first characters are not found more exem- 
plary and careful to maintain good works than 
the last, I will yield the palm of victory, and 
acknowledge myself conquered ; but if I should 
be able to prove, that those who lay the greatest 
stress upon their own righteousness, are the most 
defective in its practice ; and that those who 
totally renounce it, in point of merit, are the very 
characters in whom it is to be discovered, I think 
the inconsistencies and errors of the doctrine of 
salvation by works, will be sufficiently proved. 
— Now who are those " that tarry long at the 
wine who are those " whose God is their belly, 
who glory in their shame, who mind earthly 
things :" who are those who are " lovers of 
pleasure more than lovers of God : ' " having 
a form of godliness, but denying the power 
thereof ?" who are those who, if they appear at 
church once on a sabbath, think they have done 
their duty, and that they are at liberty to spend 
the remainder of the day in excursions and vain 
amusements i who are those who talk about 
bein<* " righteous over much,'' of too much 
strictness in religion, and who would blush at 



LETTERS. 



23 



being thought either saints or methodists ? who 
are those who can sit contentedly at the theatre 
or the card-table for hours, but who shew 
manifest symptoms of dissatisfaction, if a ser- 
mon exceeds in its delivery one quarter of an 
hour ? why the very people who talk of doing 
to every one as they would that others should 
do unto them, and who frequently violate that 
excellent text, by saying that their religion is to 
" do justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with 
their God hence they are great advocates for 
their church, and their sacrament too, on parti- 
cular festivals, and as great enemies to those 
who from a principle of conscience, commit the 
grievous, the almost unpardonable sin of leaving 
their own parish church, for some other where 
the gospel is preached, and who think they Lave 
a right, if that blessing is not to be found in the 
church, to seek for it in the meeting-house : 
thus blind and prejudiced is human nature, nor 
wants there a more convincing proof that man 
is a fallen depraved creature, groping iil darkness 
at mid-day, till the God of wisdom is pleased to 
enlighten his mind. — If this statement be correct, 
and I believe it will be found to be so, the 
charge of hypocrisy, which is so frequently laid 
to religious people, may with much more pro- 
priety be brought against those, who; if they are 
not chargeable with deceiving others, fatally de- 
ceive themselves, by saying, " Peace, peace/ 7 
when there is no peace; v\hile "in the gall of 
bitterness and in the bends of iniquity" they are 
crying out with Pharisaic pride, " The temple of 



LETTERS. 



the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple 
of the Lord are we but while they are saying 
they are of the true church, if God does not 
grant them repentance, it is to be feared they 
will eventually be found to be of the synagogue 
of Satan, for his works they do, and his wages 
they will consequently receive. 



LETTER V. 

Let us now survey the conduct of those? 
who have no other expectation of heaven than 
from the mediation and merits of the Saviour. 
— I will appeal only to facts, which cannot be 
contradicted..— Are they not exemplary in their 
conduct and regular in their attendance on all 
the ordinances of God ? do they not hail the 
return of the Sabbath with pleasure, and ob- 
serve it with a scrupulous exactness r are they 
not so consistent in their conduct, that even their 
presence frequently causes the swearer for the 
time to restrain his blasphemy : and do they not 
acquire in consequence of their piety, the nick- 
names of saint and methodist ? — Honorable dis- 
tinctions! enviable titles! though meant by those 
who bestow them, as terms of reproach and 
shame. — But why need I adduce these proofs ? 
the amiable virtues and graces which they daily 
practice, without ostentation and parade ; their 
readiness to relieve distress, to visit the sick man's 
hovel, affording him their counsel, their money, 



LETTERS. 



2S 



and ttair prayers ; their zeal and industry in in- 
structing the children of the poor, and their 
other acts of christian benevolence, are facts too 
plain and too well known to be contradicted, 
and are pretty good evidences that their doctrines 
are " according to godliness ;" and they moreover 
shew that while their opponents are talking of 
good works they are practising them ; and that 
while they are falsely accusing them of holding 
the doctrine of faith without works, they are 
according to the good old scriptural method, 
" shewing their faith by their works/' while their 
adversaries have neither the one nor the other to 
produce in defence of their system.-— Indeed it is 
no unusual matter to hear the most prejudiced 
and profane bear testimony to the uniformity 
and consistency of their conduct ; an eulogium 
so evidently free from flattery, " their enemies 
themselves being judges," proves beyond the 
possibility of a doubt, the excellence of their 
tenets ; while the good effects produced by them 
are so discernible, that it must argue an equal 
share of blindness and ignorance to suspect for 
a moment their divine origin. I would extend 
my observations, did not my Letters already 
assume the appearance of a packet of dis- 
patches.— I may compare myself to a person 
who after traversing a length of ground, just 
comes within view of a beautiful and luxuriant 
country, where all the variegated exuberance 
of nature, tend to heighten the richness and 
splendour of the scene ; he wishes to advance^ 
but the appearance of twilight urges him to 

D 



£6 



LETTERS. 



delay his progress, and he quits the enchanting 
prospect with sentiments of regret and dis- 
appointment : it is just so with me, I have 
entered upon a subject too ample to be passed 
over in a few Letters ; and though inclination 
would prompt me to contemplate and investigate 
minutely all its beauties, time and opportunity 
will only permit me cursorily to survey them. 
I said in a former letter, that I would endeavour 
to expose the absurdity of the objection urged 
by some against religion ; I mean the ill con- 
duct of a few of its professors ; I will now en- 
deavour to acquit myself of my promise. — No- 
thing more excites my pity, than to hear those, 
of whose understanding in other matters I have 
a good opinion, betray so great a want of can- 
dour and of judgment, as to maintain this as a 
plea for their not listening to religion: one tells 
me that he knew a character dishonest in his 
dealings, a bad husband, a deceitful friend, and 
so on ; and he adds, with all the marked severity 
of malice, that he was a methodist. Prejudice, 
without a wish to examine the truth or false- 
hood of the report, has already accredited the 
tale, and that which is frequently the sole inven- 
tion of the narrator, is ushered into the world as 
a certain and notorious fact; religion suffers 
fresh obloquy on its account, and its professors, 
without distinction, are branded with the epi- 
thets of deceivers, hypocrites, and enthusiasts. — 
Well, it is no matter, a day is coming when wis- 
dom will be justified of her children, and their 
cause be vindicated before an assembled world,— 



LETTERS. 



27 



I never, however, hear such reports but with re- 
gret, because they infer that the more ardently 
we seek the Saviour, the more we shall involve 
ourselves in inconsistency and folly ; and that 
the greater zeal we shew to his cause, the greater 
indifference we shall manifest for good works 
and for the duties of civil and social life : these 
absurd opinions are entertained by many, but 
they are at once contradictory to truth, revela- 
tion, and experience, and derogatory to the 
known character and conduct of God.— Were 
those who make such futile objections bereft of 
their intellects, I would pass over their remarks 
in silence, but as they style themselves rational 
Christians and philosophers, I cannot but ex- 
pose the mischievous tendency of their erro- 
neous opinions. — If such characters would really 
consult their reason, prejudiced and blind as 
it certainly is, it would teach them a better 
lesson, than to vilify either religion or religious 
people, because here and there an individual 
disgraces his profession of it by an inconsistent 
walk : their judgment would point out to them 
the rationality of the supposition, that God will 
honor those who honor him, and that he will 
not only hear their prayers, but will enable them 
by his grace to live as ornaments of society, 
and to " shine as lights in the world, in the 
midst of a crooked and perverse nation." Their 
reason too would impart to them a portion of 
candour, a quality of which they appear to be 
destitute ; but, alas ! prejudice has not only 



LETTERS. 



darkened their mental powers, and destroyed the 
feeble light of their understanding, but it has like- 
wise excluded from their minds that spirit of libe- 
rality which never pronounces judgment on any 
subject till it is satisfied of its criminality; nor 
even then suffers either envy or detraction to have 
a voice in the verdict. It is acknowledged that 
there are hypocrites in religion, characters who 
affect to be what they are not, " wolves in sheep's 
cloathing," artful deceivers, who under the as- 
sumed garb of sanctity, would, Judas like, be- 
tray their God and their conscience, for a little 
money ; but ought religion to suffer on this ac- 
count ? let its calumniators say how the evil may 
be remedied ; let them devise a plan by which 
the sincerely religious may separate themselves 
from the company of false professors, and they 
will be justly entitled to the thanks of all ; but 
their malicious invectives only cast a mist on 
beauties which may for a moment be sullied, but 
which never can be destroyed. The sun may for 
a season be eclipsed, but its lustre is not thereby 
extinguished; and the excellencies of religion 
may, by the breath of calumny and detraction, 
have a momentary shade cast over them, but 
truth will ultimately assert its power, and its 
majestic splendour, like the returning sun, will 
again appear in all its native excellence and 
beauty. 



LETTERS. 



29 



LETTER VI. 

There is another objection frequently made 
against religion, which I shall endeavour to re- 
fute ; it is, that its principles tend to produce me- 
lancholy, and to render the subject of them unfit 
for society : this is a most fallacious opinion, 
and deserves particular notice, as I am con- 
vinced much mischief has been done by its 
reception. It is true, that at the time of con- 
version, a change takes place, so wonderful and 
extraordinary, that a misjudging world not un- 
frequently attributes it to a sudden fit of de- 
spondency, whereas it is the cool determined 
resolution of a mind enlightened by the Spirit 
of God. When the new convert is brought 
into communion and fellowship with God, by 
the knowledge of Christ, and the influence of 
his grace, he loses all relish for the objects of 
his former affection ; he adopts pleasures dia- 
metrically opposite to those which once yielded 
him delight, for " he is a new creature ; old 
things are passed away, and all things are be- 
come new hence the world, in his estimation, 
is divested of its charms, he has a heaven in view, 
and every object contrasted with that appears 
light and trifling. Religion is his chief joy, his 
first concern ; the world is consequently no 
longer the object of his pursuit ; and thousands 
of worlds, were they at his command, would be 
nothing in his esteem if he was called to give 
them up for the Saviour. But does it follow, 
D 2 



so 



LETTERS. 



because the play-house, the card table, and 
other vain amusements are relinquished, that 
therefore happiness cannot be found elsewhere ? 
why does the Christian forsake these diversions, 
but because he has imbibed a taste for better 
things, for purer, and more satisfying enjoy- 
ments ? having had a right judgment imparted 
to him, he no longer mistakes the shadow for 
the substance, and therefore he seeks after real 
happiness, and he obtains it. Children, you 
know, are pleased with rattles and play-things ; 
while in a state of infancy, their little minds are 
incapable of more rational enjoyments ; but 
when they become men, they " put away child- 
ish things :" till then, a pebble will please them 
as well as a diamond ; and they know no diffe- 
rence between the son of a beggar and the sou 
of a king ; but when they arrive at years of 
discretion, their judgments being better inform- 
ed, they pursue objects more suited to the dignity 
and rationality of their nature, and the trifles 
that once occupied their attention and affection 
resume their influence no more. — Just so is 
it with Christians ; like children they once were 
pleased with the baubles and vanities of time, 
they sought for happiness in worldly pleasure ; 
eager and unwearied were they in the pursuit, 
but they never overtook it ; it always eluded 
their embrace, it always disappointed their hope, 
and left an aching void, unsatisfied and unfilled : 
just as they were ready to conclude there was 
no such object in existence, they found it in 
religion ; they listened to its heavenly dictates, 



LETTERS. 



31 



and the blandishments of earthly enjoyment no more 
had influence to allure them from its peaceful 
paths. The world, therefore, as they have forsaken 
its diversions, regard them as misanthropes, as the 
constant subjects of deep rooted melancholy, as 
the victims of despondency. Unhappy opinions ! 
mistaken notions ! be it my aim to remove such 
gloomy ideas from the mind of my young friend. 
What think you is there in religion to make the 
possessor of it unhappy ? Believe me, it is the 
want of it, that causes all the misery that there 
is in the world ; was every one religious, every 
one would be happy ; for " her ways are ways of 
pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." 
Were all governed by its principles, " the wil- 
derness woidd be like Eden, and the desart as the 
garden of the Lord." If Christians are melan- 
choly, it is a kind of melancholy that is en- 
viable indeed, for they are " sorrowful, yet al- 
ways rejoicing and their very tears produce a 
harvest of joy ; these are enigmas to the world, 
and it is their want of understanding them that 
causes religion in their view to be always drest 
in sables. What, is it a subject of sorrow to know 
that our sins are forgiven ? that God is our Father, 
and heaven our home ? does the heir to an earthly 
estate anticipate pleasure in contemplating the 
domains that will be his, if life is spared 5 and can 
the Chris cian be sorrowful who is about to pos- 
sess " an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, 
and that fadeth not away ?" if you reverse the 
prospect indeed, there seems to be cause for de- 
pression. The heir to an earthly estate has un- 



32 



LETTERS, 



certainty stamped upon his hope of possessing 
it; death may dispute with him his title to it; 
and in an instant, all his projected schemes of 
happiness may vanish ; his " riches make them- 
selves wings and fly away;" and the lord of 
many manors have no other mark of distinction 
than " The sepulchral stone, ornamented with 
imagery, instead of the hillock bound with 
osiers."* 

" Sorry pre-eminence of high descent, 
" Above the vulgar born, to rot in state." 

Blair. 

But the Christian's inheritance is not subject to 
such a contingency; he may look at it, and say 
with a degree of certainty 7 , " it shall be mine," 
for Christ has said " I go to prepare, a place for 
you, and if I go to prepare a place for you, I 
will come again, and receive you unto myself, that 
where I am there ye may be also." He may sur- 
vey the spangled heavens, and penetrating far be- 
yond the starry scene, he may fix his eye on 
that heavenly city, " whose light is like unto a 
stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, 
clear as crystal ; that city, the foundation of 
whose wall is garnished with all manner of pre- 
cious stones; whose twelve gates are twelve 
pearls ; whose streets are of pure gold ; which 
licedeih not the sun, neither the moon to shine 
in it, for the glory of God and the Lamb is the 
t thereof :" and contemplating all these mag- 



Hervcy, 



LETTEBS. 



33 



nilicent objects, he may say, " that is my fu- 
ture, that my eternal home :" with such views 
and such expectations, can he, think you, be 
melancholy f Believe me, those only who are 
" without Christ and without God in the world," 
have cause to be wretched ; they may indeed put 
on the appearance of happiness, but the disguise 
is palpably apparent; their enjoyment, at best, 
can arise only from ignorance or forgetfulness 
of their real state, and it amounts to no more 
than the fancied felicity of the maniac, who 
taking a straw for a sceptre, and a dungeon 
for a palace, assumes all the imagined conse- 
quence or royalty, and is happy only from the 
deprivation of his reason; — and is that an en- 
viable felicity ? " I trow not." Christians have 
their trials and afflictions in common with others, 
for " man is bora to trouble as the sparks fly 
upward," but the eternal God being their re- 
fuge, and underneath them everlasting arms, they 
are not only supported under their trials, 
but their sharpest afflictions often prove to them 
blessings in disguise ; " tribulation worketh pa- 
tience, and patience experience, and experience 
hope, and hope maketh not ashamed, because 
the love of God is shea abroad in their hearts, 
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto them." 
Thus a train of graces accompany affliction, and 
form the matter of an everlasting song of praise. 
" The trials of Christians," once said a dear mi- 
nister of Christ, # " are all medicinal;" they are 



* Jay. 



34 



Letters. 



" chastened of the Lord, that they may not be 
condemned with the world;" and " hence in an 
ocean of trouble there is not one drop of wrath." 
God has expressly said, " As many as I love I 
chasten f and again, " whom the Lord loveth 
he chasteneth; and scourgeth every son whom 
he receiveth : if ye be without chastisement, 
whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards 
and not sons." Is it not better to suffer 
the will of God, than to have the mark set upon 
us of alienation from the family of heaven ? Of 
the wicked it is said, " Neither is the rod of 
God upon them ;" " they are not in trouble as 
other men ; they have more than heart can wish," 
but like fed beasts they are only fattening for 
slaughter. Does the Lord willingly afflict ? no, 
he chastens us u for our profit that we may be 
partakers of his holiness." " The rod and re- 
proof (says the wise man) give wisdom;" like 
Aaron's rod, it often buds and produces the 
" peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that 
are exercised therewith." Jonathan's rod, you 
know, obtained honey from the honey comb, but 
the Lord's rod does more, it fulfils his own pro- 
mise, " I will cause you to pass under the rod, 
and I will bring you into the bond of the cove- 
nant," Paul and Silas, though confined in a 
dungeon, their feet fast bound in the stocks, and 
in expectation of being led to execution on the 
approaching morn, could yet sing praises to the 
Saviour; their minds were not fettered though 
their bodies were in chains : nor could stone 
walls exclude them from the presence of him who 



LETTERS. 



35 



fills heaven and earth. The martyrs, whom popish 
superstition bound to the stake, could triumph 
in the midst of flames, and glory in thai exaited 
Saviour, in whom believing, they rejoiced 
" with joy unspeakable, and full of glory/' 
Their faith surmounted every obstacle; looking 
toward the eternal hills, and to the glittering 
crown that awaited their conquest; they " re- 
joiced in tribulation," so that one of them, 
addressing his persecutors, could say, " Ye look 
for a miracle, ye papists! behold a miracle! I 
feel no more pain than if I was on a bed of 
down, but it is to me a bed of roses." And 
another, when the flames were kindling around 
him, could exultingly exclaim, when a pardon 
was offered him to recant, " N one but Christ ! 
none but Christ !" As gold tried in the crucible, 
acquires fresh purity, so Christianity reaped, 
added laurels from the vain attempt of its ad- 
versaries to destroy it : hence it has been often 
observed, that u the blood of the martyrs was 
the seed of the church ;" and certain it is, that 
divine truth never shone clearer than in those 
days, when numbers counted not their lives dear, 
to substantiate its doctrines. These were Chris- 
tians indeed! But I doubt not, if such times 
were again to _ arrive, a goodly number would 
still be found, who would cheerfully relinquish 
life, rather than betray the Saviour : yes, were the 
fires again to be kindled in Smithfield, the same 
God who gave the martyrs strength to bear their 
sufferings, not only with patience, but with joy ; 
would raise up other witnesses to his truth, who 



LETTERS. 



would be enabled to prove the intrinsic value of 
their faith at a fiery ordeal, and who would not 
" fear them which kill the body, but are not able 
to kill the soul ; but would rather fear him which 
is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." 



LETTER VII. 

The enemies of Christianity have in all ages 
been many, for " the kingdoms of the world" 
have not yet " become the kingdoms of our 
God and of bis Christ;" and the spirit of per- 
secution has been more or less experienced by 
all that have lived u godly in Christ Jesus;" 
but perhaps it was never more manifested than 
at the period alluded to in my last letter. Chris- 
tianity, however, being of God, still stands, and 
the means pursued by its enemies to destroy it, 
have, through the over-ruling providence of God, 
accelerated its growth, and established its truth, 
beyond what its most sanguine friends could 
have expected : — not that its enemies are entitled 
to any praise on that account; to God alone we 
must give the glory, who has thus caused u the 
wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder 
thereof to be restrained." He can make his 
most inveterate enemies advance the interests of 
his kingdom, while they vainly think they are 
undermining it to its very foundation. If Satan 
had not entered into the heart of Judas, and 
prompted him to betray the Saviour, he would 



LETTERS. 



37 



not have sold him for " thirty pieces of silver." 
If the Jews had not, from a principle of dia- 
bolical enmity and wickedness, preferred Ba- 
rabbas the murderer, to Jesus the Saviour, (I 
speak it w ith reverence,) our salvation would not 
have been effected, and there would yet have 
been wanting a confirmation of the various types 
and prophecies respecting the Messiah : and 
if popish tyranny had not brought many mar- 
tyrs to the stake, the church, yet in its infancy, 
would not have known the strength of the 
rock on which it was built. I have before ob- 
served, that some have dared to assert that the 
religion of Jesus is a system of melancholy, and 
that those who are influenced by its principles 
are strangers to joy. If this were really the 
case, it would be a very unaccountable circum- 
stance that so many should have resigned their 
lives in vindication of its principles; such con- 
duct would have been unnatural; the constancy 
and zeal of the martyrs, therefore, is another 
argument against such an opinion ; but the ex- 
perience of Christians after all, is the best refu- 
tation of such an unfounded charge ; they know 
there are moments in which they participate 
joys " unspeakable, and full of glory ;" mo- 
ments, in which their souls, as it w ere, wing 
their way to the celestial mansions, and, by an- 
ticipation, already enter upon the delights of its 
blessed inhabitants. This representation by- 
some may be deemed enthusiastic, but there are 
4i a cloud of witnesses" to substantiate its vali- 
dity. Believe me, real happiness is to be found 

E 



38 



LETTERS. 



no where but in Christ. Ask the haggard vota- 
ries of pleasure, who night after night in the 
circle of fashion and of folly, pursue the phan- 
tom, if they have found it? nay, visit the fasci- 
nating ball room, and call aside the giddy fair 
one, who, 

** On the light fantastic toe," 

apparently, is all gaiety and mirth, ask her if she 
is really happy, and she will tell you, if she is 
honest to the convictions of her own conscience, 
that though the viol, the tabret, and the harp, 
conspire for the moment, to elevate her spirits, 
and to stifle reflection, there is yet amidst all the 
artificial blandishments of the surrounding scene, 
a something wanting, an aching void unsatis- 
fied ; and that her moments of retirement are at- 
tended with keen remorse, with bitter disappoint- 
ment. But it may be thought that riches and 
honours cannot fail of producing real felicity, 
a capability of procuring the luxuries of life, a 
well-furnished table, a splendid equipage, " an 
elegant sufficiency." # These with the adulation 
and external respect, which wealth and titles so 
generally, and so unjustly secure, are objects so 
exactly adapted to the natural wishes and incli- 
nations of the human heart, that it would seem 
next to an impossibility, but that such charac- 
ters must be happy : — but are they so ? A view 
of their stately mansions, their costly furniture, 
their gay equipage, their retinue of domestics, 



Thomson, 



LETTERS. 



39 



and their extensive domains, would seem to 
justify the supposition: but could you go still 
further, and behold their possessor ; could you en- 
ter into his feelings, and have his views, you would 
speedily find that " all is not gold that glitters ;" 
you would not see the contented happy man, but 
the slave of ungoverned passions, the victim of 
pride, the haughty minion of power and of self- 
complacency : tormented by a variety of artifi- 
cial wants, pampered with luxury, the prey per-* 
haps of disease, the consequences of indolence 
and high living, a torment to himself, and hated 
while flattered, by all around him. Is such a 
character, think you, an object of envy ? Believe 
me, a superabundance of wealth generally pro- 
duces satiety and discontent: " a single staff 
will help a man on his journey, but a bundle 
of them will prove his burden." # What says the 
scripture, " a little that a righteous man hath is 
better than the riches of many wicked." Objects, 
however beautiful they appear at first view, lose 
much of their advantage by possession ; hence 
the mansions of the great often afford more 
pleasure to the spectator than they do to the re- 
sident : and the rich man, the object of our 
envy, would be frequently that of our pity, 
could we enter into his real feelings and expe- 
rience. But, perhaps, the addition of a star 
and ribbon, and the flattering appellation of 
" My Lord," or " Your Grace," is " the one 
thing needful" to complete his happiness ; — it is 



* Jay. 



40 



LETTERS, 



obtained, and he is farther from the object of 
his hope than ever; for, in addition to all his 
imaginary wants, he is in danger of feeling the 
tormenting pangs of jealousy, lest some more 
favored rival should supplant him in the smiles 
of his sovereign. Thus different orders of man- 
kind pursue happiness, under a variety of illusive 
forms, whereas the assertion of Milton is true. 

" The mind is its own place, and in itself, 

u Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heav'n." 

I freely confess to you that I was a stranger 
to felicity till I became acquainted with the 
Saviour, and that since 1 have known him, I have 
experienced real satisfaction and joy. The amuse- 
ments of the world, so far from being the ob- 
jects of my envy, are those of my aversion : I 
have found enjoyments they never could impart. 
I consider them as the artful snares of the great 
enemy of souls, to entrap the gay and thought- 
less ; and I pity those, who attracted only by 
their superficicial splendour, are entangled in a 
whirlpool of almost inevitable destruction. Their 
situation is awful; time, though of infinite va- 
lue, they cast from them as a thing of nought; 
and hence they trifle hours away at the theatre, 
the ball room, and the card table, that might be 
profitably and honourably employed, in culti- 
vating an acquaintance with God and with their 
own souls. Surely the female, whatever her con- 
dition may be, how ever elevated her . station, 
would reflect greater lustre on her character 
in appropriating her time to the discharge of the 



LETTERS. 



4i 



various duties appertaining to the family, the 
church, and the world, than in hurrying from 
one place of dissipation to another ; but, alas ! 
pleasure has poisoned her mind, and she has, 
therefore, no relish for the service of Go4 nor of 
her fellow creature; the false glare of mere- 
tricious gaiety has attracted her affections, and 
to it must be sacrificed time, health, reputation, 
all that is endearing, and all that is valuable. — 
Though experience testifies that there is no real 
satisfaction to be found in such a course, the 
unhappy victim still pursues it; and like the 
silly moth, though singed at the flame, she con- 
tinues hovering about it, and finds, too late, that 
its artificial glare is destruction and death. 
Nay, these murderers of time, are not content 
with effecting their own destruction, but by way 
of introducing to the world a daughter or a 
ward, they, as their avowed guardians and pro- 
tectors, encourage them by the sanction of their 
unhallowed example, to partake of pleasures, 
whose manifest tendency is to drown reflection, 
and to stifle every principle by which the future 
life might be rendered useful and happy. Alas ! 
such characters know not how soon they may 
wish, but wish in vain to redeem the smallest por- 
tion of that time, which they now cast away with 
a prodigal indifference. I heard once of a very 
rich man, who, upon his death bed, cried out in 
the greatest agitation of mind, " my whole 
fortune would I gladly give for half an hour's 
respite, to make my peace with God;" but it was 
denied him, and he died in all the horrors of 



42 LETTERS. 

despair. f* The loss of time (said another, 
upon his death bed) " lies heavy upon my con- 
science." What a reckoning then will those 
murderers have to give at that solemn hour, who 
fly to sinful diversions for the avowed purpose of 
killing time ? To what is such folly owing, but to 
a fatal ignorance of that peace of mind, and of 
those pure and heavenly joys, which the religion 
of Jesus imparts r Were they acquainted with 
these, they would no longer be the pensioners 
upon a fellow worm, for that happiness which it 
is not in his power to impart, they would seek it 
where alone it is to be found—in God. Oh, con- 
sider, my young friend, the infinite importance 
of the present moment, and pass it not away in 
pursuits that will ultimately cause remorse and 
shame. What says the word of God? "Ye 
know not what shall be on the morrow, for what 
is your life? it is even a vapour that appeareth 
for a little time and then vanisheth away;" yet 
in that little time, a heaven is to be gained or 
lost, and that for ever. Awful reflection! may 
it make a suitable impression upon both our 
minds ! may we use time for the purposes of 
eternity ; and recollect that " now is the 
accepted time, now is the day of salvation/' 
There is one certain criterion, by which you may 
always ascertain the innocence or guilt of any 
amusement you may be solicited to join in :< — 
it is this, to ask your own heart, if the 
thought of having engaged in it will strew your 
dying pillow with thorns or roses : this is a test 
by which you may form a right judgment of 



LETTERS. 



43 



what is lawful and what is forbidden, and at- 
tending to its honest decision, you will be kept 
from " the path of the destroyer f and you will 
partake only of those delights, which are subser- 
vient to the grand purposes of your existence, 
the well being of your soul, and the glory of 
God. 



LETTER VIII. 

Th e fear of losing the good opinion of their 
connections, and of incurring the obloquy and 
reproach of the world, are insurmountable ob- 
stacles with many who would otherwise be 
religious : but they tha,t would wear the crown, 
must; needs bear the cross ; nor ought they to 
expect that the path which the Saviour marked 
with blood, should for them be strewed with 
flowers. Courage is an essential requisite in 
every Christian combatant; and he that would 
be u a good soldier of Jesus Christ'* must 
" endure hardness the laurels of victory are 
not bestowed till the conquest is obtained; and 
if we enlist under the banners of the captain of 
salvation, we must expect to have many ene- 
mies to encounter with, ere we shall be able to 
say with the apostle, " Thanks be Witp God 
who giveth us the vie to 17, through our Lord 
Jesus Christ." But why should we despond, 
seeing we are clothed with invulnerable armour, 
and are sure of coming off " more than conquerors, 
through him that hath loved us ?" Shall the mis- 



44 



LETTERS. 



judged opinion of a friend, or the ridicule of an 
acquaintance, deter us from professing our at- 
tachment to the Saviour ? Shall the frowns of 
men be regarded, while we have the plaudit of 
angels, and the smiles of God himself?" M Fear 
ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid 
of their revilings, for the moth shall eat them 
up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them 
like wool ; but my righteousness (says God) shall 
be for ever, and my salvation from generation to 
generation. " I, even I, am he that comforteth 
you. Who art thou that thou shouldest be 
afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of 
man which shall be made as grass, and forgettest 
the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth 
the heavens, and laid the foundations of the 
earth." If such is our conduct, how will ac- 
counts stand with us at the judgment bar : 
scripture resolves the important enquiry, u If 
we suffer we shall also reign with Christ : if we 
deny him he will also deny us." Who can 
describe the ecstatic joys that will then be expe- 
rienced by every one, who is a faithful unto 
death ;" he will have conferred upon him " a 
crown of life." In imagination realize this scene: 
it is fast approaching, and contrast the plea- 
sures and honours of those who through grace, 
have endured to the end, with the " shame 
and everlasting contempt," which those will 
awake to, who have denied the Lord, and been 
afraid to avow their attachment to his cause and 
people. " Whosoever, (says Christ) shall be 
ashamed of me and of my words, in this adul- 



LETTERS. 



45 



terous and sinful generation, of him also shall 
the Son of Man be ashamed, when he cometh in 
the glory of his Father, with the holy angels." 
Let the thoughts of that grand and eventful 
period, stimulate us to be active and courageous ; 
we are fighting in a good cause, and for a lovely 
Christ, and soon our warfare will be accomplished, 
and " an entrance will be administered unto us 
abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ where angels, 
and " the spirits of just men made perfect," will 
be our companions for ever and ever: and we 
shall experience joys of which at present we can- 
not even form a conception, for " eye hath not 
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into 
the heart of man, the things which God hath 
prepared for them that love him." Christianity 
has nothing to say to cowards, it inspires its vo- 
taries with an intrepidity of spirit that surmounts 
every difficulty, and overcomes every foe. The 
bantering and ridicule of the world form the first 
weapons opposed to the young convert, and 
" cruel mockings" are enumerated among the 
trials of those, of whom the sacred volume de- 
clares " the world was not worthy." To be classed 
with such characters is surely an honour, and 
" this honour have all the saints." It may be 
asked who is able to endure the continual satire 
of the world, and more especially of relatives, 
who are not like minded widi ourselves ? I re- 
ply, the Christian will be concent to suffer re- 
proach, so that he may but " win Christ and be 
found in him this is the summit of his ambi- 



46 



LETTEKS* 



tion, the spring and principle of all his actions. 
With the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, 
the breast-plate of righteousness, the sword of 
the Spirit, and his " feet shod with the pre- 
paration of the gospel of peace," he will sur- 
mount ever} 7 difficulty, and " press toward the 
mark for the prize of the high calling of God 
in Christ Jesus." " Though an host encamp 
against him, his heart will not fear," relying 
upon the sweet promise of his God, that " no 
weapon that is formed against him shall pros- 
per f and that " every tongue that riseth against 
him in judgment he shall condemn." He v> ill 
enter the lists with the enemies of his faith, and 
in every contest be successful. But does he take 
to himself any merit on this account ? no, he 
lays every laurel at the Redeemer's feet as a 
trophy of His victorious grace ; and his lan- 
guage is, " Not unto me, O Lord ! not unto 
me ; but unto thy name give I glory, for thy 
mercy and for thy truth's sake : I will rejoice in 
thy salvation, and in the name of my God will 
I set up my banners, for thou, Lord, wilt bless the 
righteous, with favour wilt thou compass him as 
with a shield." Hence the Christian may use 
the language of Hezekiah to the inhabitants of 
Jerusalem, when Sennacherib invaded J udah, 
" With me is the Lord my God to help me, and 
to fight my battle." So precious in the sight of 
the Lord are his saints, that he counted not his 
own life too dear a purchase for theirs, he sealed 
the covenant of grace with his own blood ; and 
he hath said, u lie that toucheth you toucheth 



LETTERS. 



47 



the apple of my eye." View him on the cross, 
exhibiting a pattern of matchless love ; — hear him 
say, " Is it nothing to yon all ye that pass by ?— 
behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto 
my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith 
the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his 
fierce anger." Oh ! who can pourtray the suf- 
ferings he endured, when there was " laid upon 
him the iniquity of us all ?" — men and angels 
witnessed them with surprize : there on Calvary's 
ignominious tree he hung for hours between 
heaven and earth, as unworthy of either, a spec- 
tacle of woe ; and there for us he was content 
to bear the hidings of his Father's countenance, 
and to encounter the hosts of hell : there he 
triumphed over them, and discharged the de- 
mands of die law of God, to " the uttermost far- 
thing," nor quitted he the painful conflict, till 
he could pronounce of the salvation of all that 
should believe in him to the end of time, " it is 
finished :" and now he is " received up into glory," 
and " is able to save them to the uttermost that 
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to 
make intercession for them." There he sits his 
people's representative, their advocate, their inter- 
cessor, their Saviour; such is his love, that though 
" equal with God, the brightness of his glory, and 
the express image of his person;" — though up- 
holding " all things by the word of his power, and 
having all the angels of God to worship him," he 
was not satisiied till he had obtained for his 
followers, a participation of his felicity ; hence 
his language is, " Father I will that they also 



48 



LETTERS. 



whom thou hast given me, be with me where I 
am, that they may behold my glory." Believers, 
therefore, at their departure from this evil world, 
immediately " enter into the joy of their Lord." 
O what abundant encouragement is there for all 
who feel their need of a Saviour, to come to him, 
for he hath said, " him that cometh to me I w ill in 
no wise cast out." " The Spirit and the bride say, 
come, and let him that heareth, say, come, and 
let him that is athirst, come ; and whosoever will, 
let him take the water of life freely." 



LETTER XT. 

" Seeing then that we have this hope," 
shall the foolish bantering of the world rob us 
of our " high calling of God in Christ Jesus ?" 
shall the fear of being thought singular, or of 
being termed methodists, deter us from avowing, 
on all proper occasions, our attachment to the 
Saviour ? May we never act so shameful, so 
disgraceful a part ! Let us attend to the dictates 
of conscience ; they are honest monitors, faith- 
ful friends ; so shall we " approve things that are 
excellent." " The fear of man bringeth a snare, 
but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord, shall be 
safe." What think you will be the testimony of 
a death bed, if through fear of the world, or 
from any other cowardly principle, we " deny the 
Lord that bought us ?" And if at that awful junc- 
ture, the Saviour is not our friend, who then can 



LETTERS, 



49 



help us r nor can we reasonably hope " the ever- 
lasting arms" will be underneath us, if the jeers 
or intimidations of those who are the " ene- 
mies of the cross of Christ," should prompt us 
now to say with Peter, " I know not the man ?" 
I am persuaded the mere suggestion of such 
alarming consequences, will be sufficient, by- 
God's grace, to enable us to " witness a good 
confession/' and to say to all around us, as 
Joshua did to Israel, u If it seem evil unto you to 
serve the Lord, choose you this day whom you 
will serve ; but as for me and my house, we will 
serve the Lord." The opposition of the world 
will soon cease, for our existence here, is but for 
a short space of time ; but the sting which a 
sinful conformity to the world will leave in the 
conscience, will be eternal ; it will embitter 
the present moment, be a thorn in our pillow at 
death, and be a swift witness against us at the 
judgment bar. Our Almighty friend lives for 
ever : if now we are devoted to his service, 
he will recompense us " at the ressurrection of 
the just," and he will bear us up under all the 
taunts and revilings of ungodly men. O let us 
not then rest satisfied with the cold formal reli- 
gion of the w-orld. Is the shadow of piety and 
the external semblance of devotion, a proper, a 
suitable service, to our Maker and Redeemer t 
Let us not so deceive ourselves, we cannot de- 
ceive him. Rather " Let us go forth unto 
him without the camp, bearing his reproach ;" 
let us leave the erring multitude, and regardless 
alike of their sarcasms and misrepresentations, 



50 



LETTERS. 



declare boldly " whose we are, and whom we 
serve." Let us forsake all, and follow him ; 
" chusing rather to suffer affliction with the peo- 
ple of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin 
for a season." Let us " endure the cross, de- 
spising the shame, and we shall soon, with Jesus, 
" sit down at the right hand of the throne of 
God :" — the cross is but for a moment, the 
crown for everlasting ages. Let us recollect that 
Jesus himself has said, " No man having put his 
hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for 
the kingdom of God :" and he has also declared, 
" Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's 
sake, but great is your reward in heaven." What 
though the path be strewed with thorns, it ter- 
minates in a beautiful country, where God him- 
self delights to dwell, and where we shall be 
welcomed with the plaudit of angels, and enter 
for ever into the joy of our Lord. If the giddy 
multitude, careless of their best interest, neglect 
the attractive allurements of religion ; if they 
despise the day of grace, and slight the offers of 
mercy and salvation ; if the trifles of the present 
moment are the only objects of their pursuit and 
affection ; let us not act so unwisely, but prove 
by a better choice, that we consider the plea- 
sures of the world as " beggarly elements ;" too 
mean to satisfy the wants of an immortal soul. 
Let us shew them that we prize no enjoyment 
that has not God for its object, and eternity for 
its duration. The pleasures, riches, and honours, 
of the present scene, are, at the best, as I have 
already shewn, unsatisfying in their nature, and 



LETTETtS, 



51 



incapable of affording real felicity. If we give 
them our time, our attention, our affections, we 
shall be sure to rue our choice : these gilded toys 
and baubles, so dear to " the children of this 
world," weighed in the balances of the sanc- 
tuary, * are found wanting :" an interest in 
Christ is " the one tiling needful and happy, 
thrice happy, is that character, who by grace is 
enabled to say, " God is the strength of my 
heart, and my portion for ever :" happy is that 
youth, 

" Who quits a world where strong temptations try, 
" And since 'tis hard to combat, learns to fly." 

Goldsmith. 

With David he may exclaim, " My soul is escaped 
as a bird out of the snare of the fowler ; the 
snare is broKen, and I am escaped/' His last 
moments, (how ever a misjudging world may now 
pity or condemn him,) will bear testimony to die 
wisdom and propriety of his conduct ; certainty 
will dispel his fears, fruition will more than 
realize his hopes : " risen with Christ," he al- 
ready " seeks those things which are above, where 
Christ sitteth at the right hand of God the 
language of his heart is, " I have set my affec- 
tion to the house of God." The Christian's 
happiest hour is his last, for then he will be in- 
troduced to the immediate presence of that Sa- 
viour, " whom having not seen he has loved, and 
in whom, though now he sees him not, yet 
believing, he rejoices with joy unspeakable and 
full of glory." If through grace you give your- 



LETTERS. 



self to Christ, this felicity will be yours, these 
joys will be all your own. Fear not then, I be* 
seech you, the ridicule and satire of a world 
which " lieth in wickedness," but " sanctify the 
Lord God in your heart, and be ready always to 
give an answer to every man that asketh you a 
reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness 
and fear ; having a good conscience, that whereas 
they speak evil of you, as of an evil doer, they 
may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good 
conversation in Christ ; for it is better if the 
will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing 
than for evil doing " with well doing (you may) 
put to silence the ignorance of foolish men 
and though they " obey not the word, they may 
be won without the word/' while they behold your 
" chaste conversation coupled with fear." They 
may be led to think favourably of your senti- 
ments, and to enquire for themselves into their 
validity ; and though this should not be the case, 
and you should still have to encounter the un- 
meaning laugh of those who are strangers both 
to good manners and to religion, you will have 
the testimony of your own conscience, that 
" in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with 
fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, you 
have had your conversation in the world re- 
collect Christ has said for your encouragement, 
" Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and 
persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil 
against you falsely, for my sake ; rejoice, and be 
exceeding glad, for great is your reward in 
heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets 



LETTERS. 



53 



which were before you." Esteem it, my young 
friend, a high honour to become " a companion 
of them that are so used." Rest assured the 
offence of the cross has not yet ceased, " they 
that will live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer 
persecution." " Think it not strange (said the 
apostle) concerning the fiery trial which is to 
try you, as though some strange thing happened 
unto you ; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are a 
partaker of Christ's sufferings, that when his 
glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with 
exceeding joy." " If ye be reproached for the 
name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of 
glory and of God resteth upon you ; on their 
part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is 
glorified." Regard their revilings as an evident 
token of the Saviour's love. " If the world 
hate you (says Christ) ye know that it hated me 
before it hated you : if ye were of the world, 
the world would love its own, but because ye 
are not of the world, but I have chosen you out 
of the world, therefore the world hateth you : 
remember the word that I said unto you, the 
servant is not greater than his Lord ; if they 
have persecuted me, they will also persecute 
you but be encouraged, heaven smiles upon 
you, angels regard you with complacency, God 
himself approves your constancy, and the Saviour 
will ultimately crown you with glory and im- 
mortality. May you, with Moses, esteem " the 
reproach of Christ greater riches than the trea- 
sures in Egypt, having respect unto the recom- 
pense of reward !" Many would be religious 



54 



LETTERS. 



could they substitute the pleasures of this world 
for those of the next. But it cannot be done : 
scripture speaks but of two classes of charac- 
ters, " the righteous and the wicked ; him that 
serveth God, and him that serveth him not in 
religion we cannot be neutral, we must be either 
for God or for the devil : " he that soweth to the 
flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption : but he 
that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap 
life everlasting/" " Know ye not (says the apos- 
tle) that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to 
obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whe- 
ther of sin unto death, or of obedience unto 
righteousness ;" " Hence he that doeth righte- 
ousness is righteous, and be that committeth sin 
is of the devil." Can language be plainer and 
more decisive ? " Heaven (as has been often 
observed) is a prepared place for a prepared 
people ;" believers are made meet to be partakers 
of the inheritance of the saints in light." The 
enjoyments of that bright world, would yield no 
satisfaction to the worldling, for his treasure is 
on earth. Suppose it were possible for such a 
character to be admitted to the company of 
" just men made perfect," around the throne, 
and to the presence of God himself, his feelings 
would be those of disappointment ; heaven would 
to him be a place of torment, for he would 
have no taste for its enjoyments. He now 
honestly confesses his aversion to so much re- 
ligion in the family, and in the individual; v\hat 
then would be his disgust, at hearing nothing 
but hallelujahs and songs of praise! — his heart 



LETTERS. 



55 



not being in unison with the melody and sweet- 
ness of the choirs of heaven, it would be all 
lost upon him ; so true is it that " no man can 
learn the new song that is suns: before the throne, 
but those who are redeemed from the earth." 
Instead of enjoying the felicities of heaven, his 
affections would still be set upon the pleasures 
of the present evil world : he would be sighing 
for the theatre, the bacchanalian revel, the card 
party, the horse race, &c. and in his new sphere 
he would, consequently, be comfortless and mise- 
rable : besides, the society would be enough to 
render it a place of torment to him ; how would 
he now blush to be found in the company of re- 
ligious people ! he despises them from his heart, 
he scourges them widi his tongue, and but for 
the restraint of wholesome laws, he would 
scourge them also with his hand : he has a mean 
opinion of their talents, their tenets, their cha- 
racters : he looks upon them as enthusiasts, 
madmen, " the offscoiuing of all things/"' and 
how could he then support the shame and indig- 
nity of having millions of them for his asso- 
ciates r Reason alone is sufficient to teach us 
that the love of the world, and the love of 
Christ is incompatible ; but we have higher 
authority, for Jesus himself has said, u If anv 
man love the world, the love of the Father is 
not in him and scripture also declares " that 
the friendship of this world is enmity with God 
whilst we therefore seek its pleasures and 
amusements, it is evident we are not " fit for 
the kingdom of God." 



56 



LETTERS. 



LETTER X. 

I pursue the subject of my last letter a little 
further, in order to shew that worldly minded 
and unregenerate characters could not expe- 
rience happiness, were it possible for them to 
gain admittance into heaven. Engaged in a 
succession of vain amusements, they do not 
allow themselves a single hour for reflection : 
how then, with minds so dissipated, could they 
experience delight in the enjoyments of the 
saints in glory ? they now refuse to bend their 
knee to God in prayer, he " is not in all their 
thoughts," how then could they find pleasure 
in his company for ever? with greater ease 
might fire and water assimilate ; whereas the 
joys of the Christian are not altered, they are 
only enlarged and refined by his transition to 
glory. u Grace (says the excellent Mr. Henry) 
is glory in the bud ; and glory is grace in the 
blossom " The Christian loves the Saviour now, 
and he can do no mpre than love him when 
he is admitted to his immediate presence ; the 
only difference is, that at present it is defective^ 
then it will be " perfect love." The Saviour is 
now in his estimation as " the chief among ten 
thousand," then he will appear to him " the 
perfection of beauty" — " the altogether lovely." 
— The people, ordinances, and ways of God are 
now his delight, but he is the subject of a va- 
riety of frames and feelings ; sometimes he is 
alive to God, and rejoices in him " with joy 



LETTERS. 



57 



unspeakable; and sometimes he waits upon him 
" with distraction : — his love ebbs and flows ; his 
harp emulates at one season, a Gabriel's song, 
and at another, it is out of tune, and hung upon 
the willows. But the period is hastening on, 
when his spirit will be always in unison with the 
adoration and praises of the company of hea- 
ven; now he has occasionally a Bethel visit, 
but the interview, though pleasant, is transient;— 
then he will go no more from the society of 
his beloved, " in whose presence there is ful- 
ness of joy ; and at whose right hand are pleasures 
for evermore/' The liveliest imagination can 
form but an inadequate idea of the glories of 
that state, for " it doth not yet appear what we 
shall be, but we know that when Christ shall 
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see 
him as he is." Palms of victory, crowns of 
gold, and songs of triumph, are terms frequently 
made use of in Scripture, to convey to our finite 
minds some notion of the felicity of heaven, 
but the half of it cannot be told, we must die 
to know it; — let us for the present be satisfied 
with the declaration, " the ransomed of the 
Lord shall return and come to Zion, with 
songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, 
they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow 
and sighing shall flee away." The believer's 
happiest moments here contrasted with his en- 
joyments hereafter, are but as a few drops, 
compared with the ocean, or as a few grains of 
sand to the universe. There are now special 
times, highly favoured seasons, allotted to the 



58 



LETTERS. 



people of God, in which they can say, " they 
are at the gate of heaven;" but then they will 
be " in heaven." Now they are admitted to 
many a closet audience with the King of Kings, 
and are often at his footstool, but then they will 
be with him not only in his palace, but also on 
his throne, judgiug angels. — Now they have a 
hope " full of immortality;" but then they will 
possess " the substance of things hoped for, and 
the evidence of things not seen." — Now though 
heirs, they are minors, and " the heir as long as 
he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, 
though he be Lord of all, but is under tutors 
and governors;" but ere long they will be of 
age, and u coming unto the measure of the 
stature of the fulness of Christ;" they will take 
possession of their long wished-for inheritance, 
and assume the honours and titles of their 
august birth-right. — Now when faith is in ex- 
ercise, they can behold a reconciled God and 
Saviour in Christ Jesus ; but at best they " see 
through a glass darkly, and know but in part;" 
but then " with open face, beholding as in a 
glass, the glory of the Lord, they will be 
changed into the same image, from glory to 
glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord."- — Now they 
occasionally sing " one of the Lord's songs," 
though " in a strange land," but then they will 
ascribe " salvation unto God who sitteth upon 
the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and 
ever." The thought alone creates a heaven in 
idea, what then will be its reality! — May we 
never forget the unparalleled love of God our 



LETTERS. 



59 



Saviour ; but u fear the Lord, and serve him 
in truth, with all our heart, considering what 
great things he hath done for us!" May our 
closets bear witness to our gratitude, and our 
conduct evince, that we " love not in word only, 
but in deed and in truth !" How highly has he 
distinguished us by his grace ! surely we have 
abundant matter for thanksgiving, in the re- 
view of our past mercies, and we have encou- 
ragement to look forward with hope, when we 
consider that Jesus " having loved his own, loveth 
them unto end/'. 

" Nor death nor hell shall e'er remove 

" His fav'rites from his breast; 
" On the dear bosom of his love* 

" They shall for ever rest." 

Wat i s> 

* They go from strength to strength, every one 
in Zion appeareth before God." Their harps 
are already prepared, their cross will shortly 
be laid aside, their warfare be accomplished, 
and the trials of mortality, be succeeded by the 
joys of eternity; for " the Lord God will wipe 
away tears from off all faces, he will swallow up 
death in victory, and the rebuke of his people 
shall he take away from off all the earth, for the 
Lord hath spoken it; and it shall be said in 
that day, Lo this is our God, we have waited for 
him, and he will save us, we will be glad, and re- 
joice in his salvation." The half-spent vessel, 
long tossed upon the tempestuous ocean of life, 
will then ride majestically into port: wafted by 



60 



LETTERS. 



the auspicious gales of the spirit, by that wind 
" which bloweth where it listeth ;" it will gain the 
"desired haven ;" where secure from storms, and 
safe at anchor/ its gallant streamers, unfurled and 
waving in the air, will bespeak its joy. The aged 
pilgrim, after having measured many a weary 
step in the wilderness, and as often longed for 
home, shall then gain the threshold of his ever- 
lasting habitation, and regard all his past trials as 
11 the light afflictions of a moment." To drop 
these similitudes, the Christian under all the 
lets and hindrances of the way, may say with 
the apostle^ " I reckon that the sufferings of 
the present time are not worthy to be compared 
with the glory that shall be revealed;" " for the 
things which are seen are temporal, but the 
things which are not seen are eternal." While 
sojourning in a vale y of tears, we must not 
expect often to smile: we must look for our 
share of suffering, for none are exempt: the 
corruption of our hearts, the internal strivings 
of nature and grace, the temptations of the 
world, the flesh, and the devil; dark dispensa- 
tions of Providence, painful bereavements, dis- 
appointments from various quarters ; these 
will let us know, that " this is not our rest :" 
these will try our patience, and cause us to be 
well assured that it is through " an enemies land" 
w e are passing : — but this is our consolation, 
that, known unto the Lord are all our distresses, 
" for we have not an high priest, which cannot 
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, 
but who was in all points tempted like as we are. 



LETTERS. 



61 



yet without sia ; let us, therefore, come boldly to 
the throne of grace, that we may " obtain mercy, 
and find grace to help in time of need." The 
Lord is a refuge for us in trouble," " a very 
present help," " a God near at hand, and not afar 
off." Without his permission, not even a sparrow 
falleth to the ground, and the animalcule, though 
imperceptible to the naked eye, is as much his 
charge as an archangel in glory ; both owe 
their existence and their enjoyments to him. 
Though he rules the planetary system, and has 
the universe under his controul, he condescends 
to number " the very hairs of our head," and to 
" perform all things for us." Have we enemies r 
he will conquer them :— have we fears i he will 
dispel them. Who shall harm us, " if we be fol- 
lowers of that which is good r" Only confide in 
his unchanging love, and you will know and ex- 
perience that his affection is equal to his pow r er; 
and that none will, none can be lost, but those 
who reject his mercy, and set at nought his 
grace and his salvation. 



LETTER XL 

Having in the scriptures such innumerable 
promises of support under the trials and diffi- 
culties of life, " let us lay aside every weight, and 
the sin which doth so easily beset us, and run with 
patience the race that is set before us, looking 
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our 

G 



62 



LETTERS. 



faith." Let us pray for grace to be more active 
and vigilant; and be " always abounding in 
the work of the Lord ; for as much as we know 
that our labour is noc in vain in the Lord," In 
a very short period our Christian course will be 
finished; our situations in the world and in the 
church, will be rilled by others, and the place 
that now knows us, will know us no more for 
ever; let us then spend our little allotment of 
time for God and for eternity. Death, who for 
so many ages has ravaged this habitable globe, 
and has spread such universal devastation, will, 
ere long, be destroyed, and we shall exclaim 
with the apostle, " O death, where is thy sting f 
O grave, where is thy victory r" 

u The day draws on, when not a single spot of burial earth, 
" Whether on land, or in the spacious sea, 
u But rrni'st give back its long committed dust 
" Inviolate ; and faithfully shall these 

■ Make up the full account: — nor the least atom 
" Ernbt-zzled or mislaid of the whole tale. 

" Each soul shall have a body ready furnish'd, 

■ And each shall have his awn : — hence, ye profane, 
" Ask not how this can be? Sure the same power 
" That rear'd the piece at first, and took it down, 

u Can re-assemble the loose scatter'd parts, 
M And put them as they were; Almighty God 
*' Has done much more ; nor is his arm impaired 
* Thro' length of days, and what he can he will : 
u His faithfulness, stands bound to see it done." 

Blair's Grave. 

u The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall 
be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed; 
for this corruptible most put on incorruption, 
and this mortal must put on immortality ; so 



LETTERS. 



65 



when this corruptible shall have put on incor- 
ruption, and this mortal shall have put on immor- 
tality, then shall be brought to pass the saying 
that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 
Why then should we fear this enemy, since 
Jesus has spoiled him of his weapons ? and why 
should judgment alarm us, for " who shall lay 
any thing to the charge of God's elect? it is 
God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? 
it is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen 
again; who is even at the right hand of God; 
who also maketh intercession for us;" and 
" who shall separate us from his love ? shall 
tribulation? or distress? or persecution? or fa- 
mine ? or nakedness ? or peril ? or sword ? nay, 
in all these things, we are more than conquerors, 
through him that loved us:" we are, therefore, 
persuaded that " neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things pre 
sent, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, 
nor any other creature shall be able to separate 
us from the love of God which is in Christ 
Jesus our Lord." Having such a Saviour, we 
shall behold the sun darkened, the elements melt- 
ing with fervent heat, the universe in flames, 
the heavens opening, the judge of quick and 
dead upon his throne, the tribes of the earth 
both small and great, before him, and yet be un- 
appalled spectators of the aw ful scene : nay 
more, we shall rejoice and say with rapture 
and triumph, " our redemption draweth nigh." 
How august is the description of the last day 
given us by the beloved John ; " I beheld (says 



64 



LETTERS, 



he) and lo there was a great earthquake, and the 
sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the 
moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven 
fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth 
her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a 
mighty wind: and the heaven departed as a 
scroll when it is rolled together; and every 
mountain and island were moved out of their 
places ; and the kings of the earth, and the great 
men and the rich men, and the chief cap- 
tains, and the mighty men, and every bond man, 
and every free man, hid themselves in the dens, 
and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to 
the mountains and rocks, fall on us, and hide us, 
from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, 
and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great 
day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able 
to stand?" What an awful account is this! the 
bare relation of it is sufficient to make us 
tremble, especially when we consider that no art or 
stratagem of ours can screen us from being living 
witnesses of its terrors ; yet if we have a good 
hope through grace, we may lift up our heads, 
amidst the general desolation, with joy, for we 
shall lose nothing in the great conflagration, 
our portion will be in heaven; and there we 
shall join the u multitude, which no man can 
number, of all nations and kindreds, and people, 
and tongues ; and stand before the throne and 
before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and 
with palms of victory in our hands :" we shall cry 
with a loud voice, " Salvation to our God, which 
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." This 



LETTERS. 



65 



will be our everlasting song. O what a concert ! 
how grand! how august! we shall serve God 
" day and night in his temple : we shall " hunger 
no more, neither thirst any more ; neither shall 
the sun light on us, nor any heat, for the Lamb 
which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed 
us, and lead us unto living fountains of waters^ 
and God shall wipe away all tears from our 
eyes." What a sublime and heavenly description 
is this ! where is there in any work of man to be 
found its counterpart? what a cluster of bril- 
liant ideas is exhibited to our view! but to the 
inspired writer it was more than idea, it was 
reality, and, therefore, he was well calculated to 
leave upon record, a faithful relation of the 
events of 

" That day, 
" For which all other dajs were made.'* 

You NO. 

Happy Christian! secure in the Redeemer's 
love, he may contemplate the terrors of the last 
judgment without dismay. " Godliness is pro- 
fitable unto all things, having the promise of the 
life that now is, and of that which is to come 
the possessor of it, therefore, is the only charac- 
ter that enjoys life : whether he has little or 
much, he receives it with gratitude at the hands 
of God, and he can say from heart-felt expe- 
rience, " The blessing of the Lord, it maketh 
rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it." Can 
the worldling speaking thus highly of his portion i 
The Christian has something in hand, but more 
g £ 



66 



JLETTERS. 



in hope. Conscious that he deserves nothing, he 
enjoys every thing. May you he enabled 
thus to know and to love the Saviour; he has „ 
said for your encouragement, " I love them that 
love me, and those that seek me early shall find' 
me." And when did he not fulfil his promise?— „ 
He is the " pearl of great price," , the fountain' 
of light and life, the only source of true felicity. 
" Happy is that man that findeth wisdom, and 
the man that getteth understanding; for* the 
merchandize of it is better than the merchan- 
dize of silver, and the gain thereof than of fine 
gold; she is more precious than rubies, and all 
the things thou canst desire, are not to be com- 
pared unto her : length of days is in her right 
hand, and in her left hand riches and honour : 
her ways are the ways of pleasantness, and all her 
paths are peace : she is a tree of life to them 
that lay hold upon her, and happy is every 
one that retaineth her." Do you ask me who is 
meant by Wisdom ? I reply, Christ Jesus, " who 
of God is made unto us, wisdom and righteous- 
ness, and sauctification, and redemption," 



LETTER XII. 

Persecution, more or less, you must 
expect, if you are determined, through grace, 
to be a follower of the despised Nazarene ; let 
not, however, that consideration distress you, 
but rather glory in being admitted to a " fellow- 



LETTERS. 



67 



ship of Christ's sufferings :" those who now revile 
you, would gladly exchange situations with you 
in a future state ; but then the awful gulph 
will he fixed, and their condition be determined 
' for ever. In all the slights you meet with 
. for your attachment to Jesus, you may rest as- 
'sured of his abiding love, and possessing that, you 
heed care for nothing else. u If we suffer with 
him (said the apostle) we shall reign with him; 
if we deny him," he will also deny us." Your 
battles, before you begin to fight them, are al- 
ready won ; your w arfare is accomplished ; 
you have, therefore, no cause for fear, for 
" greater is he that is for you, than all they 
that are against you *" but, alas ! our base and 
cowardly apprehensions, often magnify the dan- 
ger, and make that in appearance a mountain, 
which is only a plain. What though your foes 
are potent, your God is omnipotent; what 
though in yourself you are weak as helpless 
infancy, yea, " crushed before the moth/' the 
promise is still upon record, " fear not thou 
worm Jacob, I will help thee, saith the Lord, and 
thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel ! Behold ; 
I will make thee a new T sharp threshing instrument, 
having teeth ; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and 
beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff;" 
and hence 

" The feeblest saint shall wia the dny, 
" Tho' death and hell obstruct the war." 

Watts. 

The world is one of the Christian's most for 
midable enemies ; it crucified the Lord ; and 



§8 



LETTERS. 



such is its malignant spirit, that it would gladly 
put to death all his followers : its smiles, like 
Delilah's, would shear him of his strength ; and 
its frowns would deter him from his heavenly 
pursuit ; but neither the one nor the other can 
prevail. Grace being vouchsafed, he goes on his 
way, rejoicing in his God, and assured of 
eternal glory. Though he passes through an 
enemies' land, he need not fear, since he who 
sways the sceptre of universal empire, and who 
has " all power in heaven and on earth," is his 
guide and protector ; he has said, " there shall 
no evil touch thee ;" " When thou passest 
through the waters I will be with thee, and 
through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee ; 
when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt 
not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon 
thee ; for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One 
of Israel, thy Saviour." As God's people in 
former times were saved from the cruel designs 
of a persecuting Pharaoh, so shall the Christian 
be delivered from every danger by the mighty 
God of Jacob. The favoured saints of the 
Most High were brought out of Egypt, " with 
a mighty hand x and with an outstretched arm ;" 
they had a pillar of fire to guide them by night, 
and a cloud of smoke by day. Though in a 
barren desert, they wanted nothing, for " God 
was nigh unto them." " He led them through 
the wilderness, through a land of deserts, and of 
pits ; through a land of drought, and of the 
shadow of death, through a land that no man 
passed through, and where no man dwelt; and 



LETTERS. 



69 



brought them into a plentiful country, to eat the 
fruit thereof." Though they were forty years in 
a wilderness, they were not destitute ; " they ate 
manna until they came to a land inhabited, to 
the borders of the land of Canaan/' " Their 
raiment waxed not old upon them, nor did their 
feet swell." They were safely guided through 
" the great and terrible wilderness, wherein were 
fiery serpents and scorpions, and drought ; 
where there was no water, and had water 
brought forth out of the rock of flint ;" they 
at length arrived at " a good land, a land of 
brooks of waters, of fountains, and depths, that 
sprung out of vallies and hills ; a land of wheat, 
and barley, and vines, and tig-trees, and pome- 
granates ; a land of oil, olive, and honey ; a 
land wherein they ate bread without scarceness, 
and where they did not lack any thing in it ; a 
land where stones were iron, and out of whose 
hills they dug brass ; where they did eat, and were 
full ; and blessed the Lord, their God, for the good 
land which he had given them." r Ihe mighty 
ocean, whose tempestuous billows, .insatiate in 
their fury, have so often proved the untimely 
grave of the adventurous mariner, at the com- 
mand of Jehovah, laid aside its rage ; the white 
foaming surges, rising mountains high, formed 
a tremendous wall on each side, and a path was 
made in the deep waters, that " the beloved, 
the redeemed of the Lord, might go over dry 
shod while the amazing body of w aters form- 
ing the bulwark, whose towering height seemed 
to the astonished travellers, to touch the very 



LETTERS. 



heavens ; caused them indeed to ** see the works 
of the Lord ; and his wonders in the deep." 
" The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, 
I will divide the spoil, my lust shall be satisfied 
upon them ; I will draw my sword, my hand shall 
destroy them :" but " the Almighty blew with 
his wind, the sea covered them ; they sank as 
lead in mighty waters." " So let all thine 
enemies perish, O Lord, but let them that love 
him, be as the sun when he goeth forth in his 
might." From the foregoing relation I deduce 
this remark :— those who take Christ for their 
portion, have nothing to fear ; " let them be 
ashamed which trangress without cause." In 
every danger he makes a way for his people s 
escape ; and though their path, like Israel's of 
old, may be through a dreary desert, and beset 
with dangers, yet he will assuredly bring them 
to Zion, as he did his favoured people to Ca- 
naan. Let us then " trust in him at all times, 
for God is a refuge for us." " The Christian 
has not a God to seek when he wants a God to 
use,"* for h is " near at hand, and not afar off : 
a very present help in trouble." Though we 
may have to pass " through much tribulation," 
we shall at length " enter the kingdom." Rest 
assured the same spirit which prompted the Jews- 
to crucify our Lord, still prevails in the hearts 
of the unregenerate, they want only the re* 
straint of die wholesome laws of our country 
to be removed, again to shew their implacable 



■ Jay, 



LETTERS. 



71 



hatred to all who dare profess their attachment 
to the cause of Christ. Abundant proof of 
this is manifested in those families, where one or 
more are religious : w ith w hat scrutiny will their 
conduct be viewed ; what wrong interpretations 
will be put upon all their actions, " as con- 
cerning this sect," said they of old, " we know 
that every where it is spoken against and you 
may judge what opinion they had of the de- 
signs of the Christians of those days, by the 
charge they preferred, when they took some of 
them before the rulers of the city, saying : 
" these that have turned the world upside down, 
are come hither also." Be not, therefore, sur- 
prized, if you have your views misrepresented, 
and your understanding impeached, by your re- 
latives and former associates : They will (it is 
very probable) endeavour to ridicule you out of 
your newly received opinions ; and should they 
be unsuccessful in this mode of warfare, they will 
change their weapons, and tell you that your 
understanding will be bewildered, that you will 
lose all hopes of preferment in the world, if 
you attend so much to religion ; and that, 
moreover, it will make you unfit for the dis- 
charge of those duties you owe to society to 
give additional plausibility to their assertions, they 
will profess great friendship for you, and assure 
you that it is their affection alone which prompts 
them to speak to you in so direct and plain 
a manner ; and you ought, in some instances, 
to give them credit for their sincerity ; because 
their opposition proceeds not from a want of 



72 



LETTERS. 



love to you, but from prejudiced notions, 
which they have formed of your religion. They 
will, perhaps, relate to you some instances 
of persons who have become insane by attend- 
ing, as they term it, too strictly to religion ; but 
believe them not, for they know not what they 
say, nor whereof they affirm ; they are " igno- 
rant and out of the way/' and their opposition 
arises solely from the natural enmity of the 
heart, unsubdued by grace. They only verify 
scripture, which long ago has declared that 
" the natural man receive th not the things of the 
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto 
him, neither can he know them, because they 
are spiritually discerned." Pity and pray for 
them, treat them with kindness and affection^ 
for you was once in their state, and would (but 
for the rich mercy of God,) have continued in 
it to this moment ; and who can tell but the 
Lord may give them also repentance towards 
God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ ?" 
Your consistency of conduct will be forcible 
evidence in favor of your sentiments, and if 
your opponents are not convinced, they will at 
least have no excuse for their reproaches. Think 
only of the heaven that awaits your constancy, 
and be encouraged to follow the Saviour, 
" through evil as well as through good report." 
Mis grace will be sufficient for you under all 
your trials, and his glory will be your reward, 
when time with you will be no more. 



LETTERS, 



73 



LETTER XIII. 

Religion is too serious a matter to be 
parted with for the dearest relative upon earth : 
it is the most important of all concerns, for 
eternal happiness or misery depends upon its 
reception or rejection. The sufferings of the 
present life will soon be past, and how soon 
none can tell, perhaps " in the twinkling of an 
eye. 7 ' I who am now writing to you in health 
and spirits, may not be permitted to finish my 
letter ; and you who are in the dawn of youth, 
and perhaps looking forward to many enjoyments, 
may suddenly be called away, and have all 
your expectations baffled in a moment : but if 
you are a believer in Christ, you will have 
cause to rejoice, for it will be a transition from 
a dungeon to a palace ; from the perils of a wil- 
derness to the comforts of a home ; and a life, 
checquered with trials and disappointments, to 
one of perfect and perpetual felicity. Who 
would not long for such a change, and say with 
the apostle, u I have a desire to depart and to 
be with Christ, which is far better r" It is pre- 
judice and ignorance alone that prompts an op- 
position to the gospel ; many think that by such 
conduct they are advancing the interests of 
morality, and " doing God service but they 
are Babel builders ; they are rearing a super- 
structure which will never reach the heavens. 
Christ is the only foundation on which we 
can safely build for eternity ; he is the rock 
ii 



74 



LETTERS. 



against which the gates of hell cannot prevail ; 
" neither is there salvation in any other, for 
there is none other name under heaven given 
among men, whereby we must be saved." Every 
other refuge will be swept away " in the great 
and terrible day of the Lord." O that we 
may build upon this sure, this tried founda- 
tion stone, and with die apostle, have a desire 
ci to be found in him, not having on our own 
righteousness, which is of the law, but that 
which is through the faith of Christ ; the righte- 
ousness which is of God, by faith." Cloathed 
in this splendid garb, me shall be welcome 
guests at the marriage supper of the Lamb, and 
shall be presented " faultless before the presence 
of his glory with exceeding joy." The gospel 
(being of God) cannot be overthrown, it con- 
tinues, (notwithstanding the repeated attacks of 
infidels,) the admiration and solace of thousands ; 
it supports diem through all the checquered 
scenes of life, and enables them to meet death 
itself with triumph. And shall those who have 
received its truths, part with their hope to please 
a gainsaying world, or to secure the good opi- 
nion of a fellow creature ? I trust they have not 
" so learned Christ." Perhaps you have never 
been called to visit a Christian at the last hour 
of his existence ; it is worth a thousand argu- 
ments in favour of his religion ; you would see 
him calm amidst the storm, " rejoicing in hope 
of the glory to be revealed :" you would behold 
him, with resignation, yielding up his soul to the 
God who gave it ; the name of Jesus resting 



LETTERS. 



75 



upon his dying lips, you would hear him ex- 
press with gratitude, his confidence and hope ; 
while a smile of secret satisfaction would gild 
the shadows of the evening, and the bitterness 
of death would seem already passed. You would 
be ready to say with Young, 

" His God supports him in bis final hour : 
M His final hour, brings glory to his God." 

Who does not exclaim with Balaam, " Let me 
die the death of the righteous, and Jet my last' 
end be like his." 

" The chamber where the good man meets his fate, 
41 Is privileged beyond the common walk 
" Of human life ; quite in the verge of heav'n. 
" Fly ye profane ! If not, draw near with awe : 

Receive the blessing, and adore the chance, 
" That threw in this Bethesda your disease: 
" If unrestor'd by this, despair your cure. 
** For here, resistless demonstration dwells; 
" A death bed's a detector of the heart. 
" Here tir'd dissimulation drops the mask, 
*• Thro' life's grimace, that mistress of the scene; 
" Here, real and apparent are the same : 
" You see the man, you see his hold on heav'n, 
'* If firm his virtue, as Philanders sound; 
" Heav'n waits not the last moment, but owns her friends 
* On this side death, and points them out to men; 
" A lecture silent, but of sov'reign power, 
*' To vice confusion, and to virtue peace. 
*« Whatever farce the boastful hero plays, 
" Virtue alone has majesty in death, 

And greater still the more the tyrant frowns." 

Youno. 



76 



LETTERS. 



LETTER XIV. 

It would be a matter of surprise that so many 
should turn a deaf ear to the voice of religion, 
seeing that u godliness is profitable unto all 
things, having hope in the life that now is, as 
well as in that which is to come was it not a 
fact, that the human heart, till subdued by 
grace, is averse to every tiring that has a ten- 
dency to holiness. JJas 1 ;i the g,old is become 
dim. and the fine gold is changed ; v such is the 
awful corruption of human nature since the 
fall, that even before the mind can have been 
contaminated by evil example, we find sin dis- 
cover itself : hence, " foolishness is bound in 
the heart of a child, and the rod of correction is 
necessary to drive it far from him/' Where is 
the parent that has not found this to be true ? 
The Psalmist traces this depravity still further, 
for he says, " Behold I was shapen in iniquity, 
and in sin did my mother conceive me." Is it 
then to be wondered at, that frivolous gaieties 
occupy the youthful mind, and that in riper 
years, the -carnal mind being " enmity against 
God/* 7 manifests a preference to objects suited 
to its vitiated taste and appetite : Man is natu- 
rally a proud, because he is a fallen creature : 
hence he takes reason instead of revelation for 
his guide ; and asking not for that " wisdom 
which is from above,*' and which would make 
him " vise unto salvation," he " leans to his 
own understanding'," and makes that alone the 



LETTERS. 



77 



standard of his faith. With pre-conceived no- 
tions of his own superior judgment, he reads 
the scriptures, not as a Christian, but as a critic : 
not as the word of God, but as the work of man. 
Though he is such a novice that lie cannot by 
the dint of all his powers, explain the growth 
of a single blade of grass, he presumes to 
cavil at every doctrine of the gospel that is the 
least mysterious, and because there are in it 
" some things hard to be understood," and 
which are presented to him rather as the ob- 
jects of his faith, than of his disputation, he ar- 
rogantly rejects the whole, and " will not hearken 
to the voice of charmers, charming never so 
wisely." Hence he walks " in the vanity of 
his mind, having the understanding darkened, 
being alienated from the life of God, through 
the ignorance that is in him, because of the 
blindness of his heart.*' But how reasonable is 
it that we should come to God for instruction, 
especially as he has said, " Learn of me, for I 
am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find 
rest unto your souls !" A child, you know, coidd 
not instruct himself in the first rudiments of 
learning without the aid of a teacher ; and if 
human knowledge is not to be obtained without 
such an auxiliary, why should an objection be 
made to the necessity of divine tuition r It is 
written, " all thy children shall be taught of the 
Lord ;" and the challenge is given, " Who 
teacheth like him i" It is expressly said, " he 
teacheth man knowledge ; and if any man will 
do his will, he shall know of the doctrines, whe- 



78 



LETTERS, 



ther they be of God."' How reasonable then is If 
that we should attend to the counsel of the 
apostle, who said, " If any of you lack wisdom, 
let him ask of God that giveth to all men libe- 
rally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given 
him." Natural abilities may advance their pos- 
sessor to literary fame, but they will never bring 
him to the Saviour's feet. " Let no man (says 
the apostle) deceive himself. If any man among 
you seem to be wise in this world, let him be- 
come a fool, that he may be wise, for the 
wisdom of this world is foolishness with God." 
The first and last lesson to be learnt in the 
school of Christ is humility : till the natural 
pride of the"' human heart be conquered, little 
progress will be made in the knowledge of 
God : " the lofty looks of man must be hum- 
bled, and his haughtiness be bowed down," before 
the Lord wfll be exalted in his affections. It is 
the office of the Spirit of God alone to con- 
vince of sin, and to discover to man his need of 
a better instructor than his own rational powers. 
In creation " darkness was upon the face of the 
deep, till the Spirit of God moved upon the 
face of the waters ; 7 ' and till God said, " let 
there be light," there was no light; so it is in 
the soul of man ; all is chaos and confusion, 
till the glory of the Lord has arisen upon him. 
Till then, though a guilty fallen creature, he 
" goes about to establish a righteousness of his 
own," and even thinks to bring God in his 
debtor : but what opinion would you form of a 
condemned criminal, who, though about to be 



LETTERS. 



led to execution, should talk of his moral recti- 
tude, and should refuse a pardon offered to him 
upon the easy terms of confessing his guilt? 
would you not deem such a character his own 
enemy ? and is the sinner less culpable who 
neglects to seek God's mercy, from the vain 
hope of making restitution by his good works r 
The fact is, he does not believe himself to 
be the sinner the gospel represents him to 
be, and therefore being insensible of the dis- 
ease, he prizes not the remedy. The house is 
on fire, but he credits it not ; a leak is sprung 
in the ship, but he gives no heed to the report; 
nay more, he is offended at those who apprize 
him of his danger ; — in other words, he has never 
had the spirituality of God's law brought home 
to his soul, and, therefore, he is righteous in his 
own esteem. With these principles deeply im- 
pressed upon his mind, he opposes the gospel as 
far as his influence extends ; he speaks disre- 
spectfully of its ministers ; he terms religion 
fanaticism ; its professors hypocrites ; and with- 
out a blush, he propagates these unhallowed 
sentiments in all companies, and upon ail occa- 
sions ; at the expense of truth, to the joy of the 
infidel, and, if grace prevent not, to the destruc- 
tion of his own soul. May you, my young 
friend, exercise your reason to a more ho- 
norable purpose ! may it be sanctified to the 
service of God! Like the noble Bereans, may 
you " search the scriptures a rich harvest will 
be the product of your labour; dig deep, and be 



80 



LETTERS. 



assured you will find " a pearl of great price," 
that will amply recompense your toil. Were 
I to speak of the excellencies of the bible, 
and the abundant gratification its perusal affords 
every unprejudiced and sincere inquirer after 
truth, I might fill volumes in its praise ; but rest 
not satisfied with my encomiums, examine it for 
yourself; every page will impart to you satis- 
faction; by its truths, (with God's blessing) 
your faith will be strengthened, and your hope of 
eternal happiness be confirmed: take them as 
the guide of your youth, as a never-failing 
antidote to all the trials and sorrows of mor- 
tality : " bind them continually upon thine heart, 
and tie them about thy neck ; when thou goest, 
they shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, they 
shall keep thee : and when thou awakest, they 
shall talk with thee; for the commandment is a 
lamp, and the law is light, and reproofs of in- 
struction are the way of life." To read the 
scriptures with advantage, never forget to pray 
over them ; say with David, " Open thou mine 
eyes, that I may behold wonderous things out of 
thy law !" Found in the conscientious discharge 
of this duty, you will be nourished up " in the 
words of faith and of good doctrine;" and you 
will be satisfied that " all scripture is given by 
inspiration of God, and is profitable, for doc- 
trine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, 
in righteousness, that the man of God may be 
perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good 
works." 



LETTERS. 



81 



" Read and revere the sacred page — a page 
« Where triumphs immortality: — a page 
" Which not the whole creation could produce : 
" Which not the conflagration shall destroy. 
" In nature's ruin not one letter lost, 
" 'lis printed in the mind of God for ever," 

Young. 

May its sacred truths be impressed upon your 
mind ! they will elevate, -adorn, dignify, and glo- 
rify it. Relinquish the insinuating novel, and 
let the bible be your daily companion : it will 
afford you honorable, lasting pleasure; whereas 
the perusal of fictions will only mislead your 
judgment, and vitiate your taste. I have never 
found novel readers fond of their bibles, nor 
bible readers fond of novels; the coalition is 
unnatural; falsehood and truth cannot be ad- 
mired by the same person. O then, if you value 
truth, read your bible; make its precepts your 
rule of conduct; make it the man of your 
counsel ; resort to it in all your difficulties ; its 
" consolations are neither few nor small ;" it 
contains the unerring direction of infinite 
wisdom; it has God himself for its author. 
Peruse its venerable pages, again and again ; 
they will give you on each review, added satisfac- 
tion and delight ; give them a larger portion of 
your time than your toilette ; the employment 
is far more honorable and advantageous. Be it 
your care to have your mind rather than your 
person, beautified ; the one will be the admiration 
of angels for ever, the other, after you have 



82 



LETTERS. 



bestowed upon it every embellishment, will, like the 
transient floweret, attract but a moment's notice, 
and fade away. 



LETTER XV. 

Do not let the fear of being called a 
methodist, deter you from avowing, on all 
proper occasions, your firm belief of the doc- 
trines of the gospel; never be ashamed of 
your religion; it is the cause of your Redeemer, 
it ought to be your cause : it is the brightest 
ornament you can wear; those have most rea- 
son to be ashamed who would wish you to part 
with it. Be not deterred by a disgraceful ti- 
midity, from declaring your attachment to the 
Saviour; confess him before men, and he will 
confess you before angels, in the great day of 
account; when he " makes up his jewels," he 
will claim you as his portion, and in his righte- 
ousness you shall exceed the stars in the firma- 
ment for brilliancy, and stand nearer the throne 
than the highest order of angels. But pause for a 
moment, and reverse the scene ; think of the 
misery of those who have despised his gospel ; 
see them departing from his presence into those 
gloomy mansions of despair, where 

" The helpless soul, 
* Bound to the bottom of the burning pool ; 
<f Though loath, and ever loud blaspheming, owns,, 
" He's justly doom'd to pour eternal groans: 



LETTERS, 



83 



" Enclos'd with horrors, and transnVd with pain, 

" Rolling in vengeance, struggling with his chain, 

" To talk to fiery tempests, to implore, 

" The raging flame to give its burning o'er ; 

u To toss, to writhe, to pant beneath his load, 

" And bear the wrath of an offended God." 

Young. 

Since one of these events must happen to every 
individual in existence, let your own judgment 
decide, whether it is not better to suffer re- 
proach for Christ for a season, than to be ba- 
nished from his presence for ever, and to be 
classed with those wretched beings, who in 
vain will call upon rocks and mountains to 
screen them in the day of his wrath. Meditate 
much upon this awful, this all-important sub- 
ject : and by grace may you be enabled to pur- 
sue that conduct that will bring you peace at 
the last ! If you are constant in your attach- 
ment to the Saviour, I will not promise you the 
friendship of the world, but you will have what 
is infinitely preferable, the smile of him " in 
whose favour is life/' and at whose right hand 
" are pleasures for evermore." 

" Think deeply then, O think, how great thou art, 
" Pay thyself homage with a trembling heart ; • 
w What angels guard, no longer dare neglect,* 
" Slighting thyself, affront not God's respect : 
" Enter the sacred temple of thy breast, 
" And gaze, and wander there, a ravisird guest : 
" Gaze on those hidden treasures thou shalt fmd, 
" Wander through all the glories of thy mind; 
u Of perfect knowledge see the dawning light, 
" Foretel a noon most exa^isiielv bright: 



84 



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te Here springs of endless joy are breaking forth! 
" There buds the promise of celestial worth! 
« Worth which must ripen in a happier clime, 
" And brighter sun beyond the reach of time." 

Young. 

May you give these important subjects your 
most serious attention, and for this purpose let 
them form a pan of your petitions at a throne 
of grace. Pray for the enlightening influence 
of the Holy Spirit ; " he will guide you into all 
truth : u by his teaching you will be convinced 
of your real state as a sinner, and your need of 
a Saviour ; and you will fly to him for a wisdom, 
righteousness, sane till cation, and redemption.'' 
If you can but touch the hem of his garment 
you will be made whole ; if you can but realize 
your interest in his salvation, you will be happy 
for ever. It is a great matter to have a desire 
to know Christ, all have not this knowledge ; 
ungodly persons possess it not; Gallio like, they 
are careless of his favour or his frown : their 
affections being " earthly, sensual, and devilish/' 
are fixed on things on earth, and not on things 
above. — They serve " divers lusts and passions," 
and yield not " the obedience of faith." Oh, 
if you have a desire to win Christ, and to be 
found in him, you may say, you love him be- 
cause he first loved you, for never would you 
have possessed this principle, if through grace, 
it had not been imparted to you by God himself. 
Thou art " highly favoured of the Lord," he 
evidentl} delights to honour thee, and he will 
" do thee good with his whole heart : he will 



LETTERS. 



85 



rejoice over thee with singing; he will never 
leave thee, nor forsake thee" Thou art now 
an heir of glory, and shall shortly be a for ever 
with the Lord." Though your hope may not 
always be in lively exercise, nor your faith at 
all times be equally strong, yet because Christ 
lives, you shall live also. You may not acquire 
that full assurance of faith, whereby you shall 
be able to cast away all your doubts, and there 
may be seasons in which you will mid difficulty 
in saying, " my Beloved is mine, and I am his 
the suggestions of Satan, and that powerful ally, 
a wicked and treacherous heart, may lead you 
frequently, (from feeling so much of the remains 
of a depraved nature) to suspect the sincerity of 
your profession, and to write bitter things against 
yourself; and you may, perhaps, often think that 
none of the Lord's people have ever felt as you 
have done ; but this is your infirmity' ; all who 
know themselves have reason daily to lament the 
corruption of their nature, and they experience 
to their sorrow, that they dwell in bodies of sin 
and death. But there is no real cause for de- 
jection ; if your perseverance indeed depended 
upon your own exertions, there would be abundant 
ground for fear ; but " it is God that worketh in 
you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure ;* 
and, therefore, your salvation is sure. Mr 
Hervey beautifully and justly observes, in one 
of his incomparable letters, that " whoever 
attempts the ruin of a soul that is staid upon 
Jesus, must first wrench the sovereignty from the 
hand of Omnipotence, and cause unshaken faith- 

i 



86 



LETTERS. 



fulness to fail, so long as all things in heaven, 
and earth, and under the earth, do bow and obey 
the Lamb that was slain; so long as Christ is 
God, unchangeable and faithful, who cannot lye, 
so long shall a poor feeble worm, that trusts in 
him, be secured from apostacy and perdition."*— 
Hervey's Letters, Vol. J. Letter 16. 



LETTER XVI. 

There are few who are favoured with such a 
plentitude of grace as never to have a doubt of 
their interest in the Saviour ; indeed the senti- 
ment of the poet seems perfectly just, at least 
so far as I have any knowledge of Christian 
experience :— 

" He that ne'er doubted of his state, 

M May doubt, — perhaps he may, — too late." 

COWPEB. 

The young Christian ought not to be discouraged 
because he does not find the grace of faith always 
in exercise : the sun does not always shine, but 
it is not on that account extinct : in the economy 
of nature it is necessary that it should at times 
withdraw its vernal beams ; and it is equally needful 
in the kingdom of grace that we should not always 
be surrounded with " the glory of the Lord." 
But though unbelief frequently separates the 
Saviour from our view, and the sensible withdraw- 
ings of his presence fill our hearts with sorrow ; 



LETTERS. 



87 



by the hidings of his countenance we are taught 
to estimate aright the advantage of " a God near 
at hand/' and to recline our heads upon his bosom 
with the beloved disciple, rather than to follow 
him afar off with a confident Peter. The young 
believer is apt to think that no one has ever passed 
through his experience, but would he be a little 
communicative with his brethren, he would find 
that they were his " companions in tribulation," 
as well as the partakers of his joy. The misfor- 
tune is, we are apt to look rather to our frames 
and feelings than to the finished work of salvation 
in Christ Jesus ; and to date from them our 
ground of hope, instead of from the " everlasting 
covenant which is ordered in all things and sure." 
While our short comings should be the subject of 
our humiliation, they should not be the occasion 
of our despondency ; we should recollect that 
" God has not appointed us to wrath, but to 
obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ;" and 
that nothing will be able to separate vis from his 
love. At the same time we should consider it an 
act of the greatest presumption to entertain these 
hopes, if we live in the allowed practice of any 
known sin, because we are not to sin that grace 
may abound, but grace is to abound that sin may 
t>e subdued ; " that as sin hath reigned unto 
death, even so might grace reign through righteous- 
ness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." 
We are to " serve our God without fear, in holi- 
ness, and righteousness, all the days of our life." 
Though holiness is not a qualification for receiving 
Christ, it is the certain consequence and evidence 



88 



LETTERS. 



of it, for whenever a sinner is really converted unto 
God, he receives the Holy Ghost, by whose divine 
and sanctifying influence, his nature is renewed, 
his will and affections are brought into subjection 
to the law and love of Christ, and a principle is 
imparted, whereby all his actions bring glory to 
God; he has, as the scripture expresses it, his 
" fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." 
" If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature : 
old things are past away, behold all things are 
become new/' This is that new birth, without 
an experience of which, Christ himself has said, 
" we cannot see the kingdom of God." Although 
ungodly people ridicule this doctrine, it is sane- 
tioned by the Church of England, by the scrip- 
tures of truth, and by the change of heart ex- 
perienced by thousands, who once were " enemies 
to God by wicked works, " but who have become 
his willing people in the day of his power." It 
is upon plain simple matter of fact, upon that 
demonstration, which courts inspection, and which 
is open to the observation of every one, that I 
rest the truth of this essential scripture doctrine. 
The drunkard becomes sober, the lewd person 
chaste, the blasphemer swears no more; how is 
this effected r Why, say the world, the man has 
changed his religion, and is become a methodist. 
.But would it not be more correct to say that his 
leligion has changed him ? and that " the grace of 
God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to him, 
teaching him that denying ungodliness and worldly , 
lusts, he should live soberly, righteously, and 
godly in the present world, looking for that blessed 



LETTERS. 



89 



hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God 
and our Saviour Jesus Christ, who gave himself 
for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity, 
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous 
of good works." Do not misunderstand me, I 
do not contend that good works, but that Christ 
alone, is the author and finisher of salvation ; and 
that it is his blood and righteousness onlv that have 
procured it; but I also maintain that good works 
are the necessary consequences of being interested 
in Christ's salvation, which works are wrought and 
produced in us by the Spirit of God dwelling in 
us, and which sweetly and satisfactorily testifies 
and witnesses with our spirits, that we are his. 
Let us then " yield ourselves to God," and not 
repine, though the road to glory should be strewed 
with thorns. If (to break the stubbornness of our 
hearts, and to root out of us that principle of self- 
righteousness, which we are all too prone to trust 
in, and which a late eminent minister of Christ* 
once observed, was " the last sin that died in a 
believer f) the Lord permit us to experience the 
bufferings of Satan, and the rising propensities of 
evil : let us not from hence " charge God fool- 
ishly," by considering that he is dealing harshly 
with us ; nor let us hastily imagine, from these cir- 
cumstances, that we have no interest in his salva- 
tion : if these trials make us humble, and bring 
us frequently to Christ, with the language and con- 
viction of Peter, " Lord save, or I perish !" imme- 
diately Jesus will stretch forth his hand to pre- 
vent us from falling, and we shall find, (notwith- 

* Romaine. 
I 2 



90 



LETTERS, 



standing our fears,) that " underneath are the 
everlasting anus." If this be the result of our 
conflicts and temptations, they are to be accounted 
blessings ; kind frosts, to nip the noxious weeds of 
pride and self-dependance : and though we may 
think, perhaps, times without number, that we are 
in the wrong way, we shall find at last, to our un- 
speakable joy, that it was a right way, and that it 
led to " a city of habitation." The fairest flowers 
and purest springs, are frequently found in the 
lowest valleys; and seasons of self-abhorrence 
and suspicion, are often more conducive to our 
real growth in grace, than those happier moments, 
when from an enjoyment of God's favour, we are 
apt to say in self-confidence, " I shall never be 
moved." The manner would not prize the haven, 
if it were not for the tempest, and if the Chris- 
tian never had a doubt he would not know the joy 
and peace there is in believing. 



LETTER XVII. 

If we do but feel our need of the Saviour, 
?ind have such just apprehensions of the righteous- 
ness of God's most holy law, as to have no confi- 
dence in our own works for salvation, we have very 
pleasing and satisfactory evidence that a work of 
grace is begun in us; and we may take ample 
comfort in the assurance, " that he which hath 
begun the good work in us, will perform it unto 
the day of Jesus Christ." Gold, you know must 
pass through the fire, before it is divested of its 



LETTEB5. 



91 



dross ; the marble that is dag out of the 
quarry, must be hewn and polished before it 
assumes " the similitude of a palace ;" the 
diamond must be cut, and undergo a long 
process, before it sparkles in the monarch's 
diadem ; and the disciples of a crucified Saviour 
must pass through a vale of tears, ere they ar- 
rive at the " house not made with hands, eter- 
nal in the heavens." Divine wisdom has ap- 
pointed " that we must through much tribula- 
tion, enter into the kingdom of God." Since 
a choice is not afforded us, let us not repine ; 
rather may we extract joy from our sorrow, and 
thus turn every event to a good account ; let us 
imitate the conduct of the apostle, who directs 
his brethren to " count it all joy, when they 
fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that 
the trial of our faith, worketh patience." Medi- 
cines are nauseous to the palate, but they are 
beneficial to the body ; and afflictions, though 
in themselves painful, are essential to the well- 
being of the soul. " No affliction (says the 
apostle) for the present is joyous, but grievous ; 
nevertheless, it afterward yieldeth the peaceable 
fruits of righteousness to those that are exer- 
cised therewith." Let us then consider them as 
love tokens, and evidences, of our adoption into 
the family of God. " The captain of our sal- 
vation was made perfect through sufferings," 
and we, as his followers, should " not think it 
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try 
us, as though some strange thing happened unto 
us, but rather rejoice inasmuch as we are par- 



9£ 



LETTERS. 



takers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory 
shall be revealed, we may be glad also with 
exceeding joy." Let us " consider him who en- 
dured the contradiction of sinners against him- 
self, lest we be weary and faint in our minds." 
Though proprietor of the universe, he had not 
where to lay his head ; a manger was his cradle, 
and a stable the place of his nativity ; he was 
emphatically " a man of sorrows, and acquainted 
with grief." In his travels from city to city, 
though he went about doing good, how was 
he slighted, despised, and ridiculed ! What a 
testimony he gives of the inhospitality of man, 
in those piercing expressions, " the foxes have 
holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but 
the son of man hath not where to lay his head !" 
Well might he exclaim, by the mouth of the 
prophet Jeremiah, " Is it nothing to you, all 
ye that pass by ! behold and see if there be any 
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto 
me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in 
the day of his fierce anger." View his immediate 
disciples, they were the subjects of the same life 
of suffering : they " had trials of cruel mockings, 
and scourgings ; yea, moreover, of bonds and 
imprisonment ; they were stoned, they were sawn 
asunder, were slain with the sword, they wan- 
dered about in sheep skins, and goat skins, being 
destitute, afflicted, tormented ; of whom the 
world was not worthy : they wandered in de- 
sarts, and in mountains, and in dens, and caves 
of the earth ;" and yet, notwithstanding this 
melancholy detail, the apostle could say, " I 



LETTERS. 



9B 



reckon that the sufferings of the present time, 
are not worthy to be compared with the glory 
that shall be revealed and elsewhere he adds, 
" What things were gain to me, those I counted 
loss for Christ ; yea, doubtless, and I count all 
things but loss, for the excellency of the know- 
ledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have 
suffered the loss of all things, and do count 
them but dung, that I may win Christ and be 
found in him, not having mine own righteousness 
which is of the law, but that which is through 
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of 
God by faith." Behold the blessed martyrs, 
they were sharers of the same trials, subjects 
of the like persecution ! As so many Elijahs, 
they ascended to heaven in chariots of fire : 
" faithful unto death," they glorified their Sa- 
viour at the stake, and while volumes of smoke 
were rolling around them, and flames of fire 
were piercing their very vitals, they sang halle- 
lujahs to his praise. Compared with theirs, our 
heaviest trials are no more than the light afflic- 
tions of a moment ; let not then unbelief, after 
the foregoing instances, ever cause us to think 
w T e are not in God's favour, because at times 
his chastening rod is upon us ; for " whom the 
Lord loveth he chasteneth ; and he scourgeth 
every son whom he receiveth :" and again we 
have his own word, " as many as I love I re- 
buke and chasten." In regard to your bible, 
let me recommend to you to allot a regular 
portion of your time to its perusal : by a proper 
distribution of it, you will easily secure a portion 



94 



LETTERS. 



of each day for this important engagement. I 
heard of a monarch once, who reproved his 
courtier, by telling him that " he lost an hour 
in the morning, and that he was running after 
it all the rest of the day/' We should attach 
order and regularity to our engagements with 
God, as well as with mail ; to use a familiar 
adage, we " should take time by the forelock f 
and previous to either the duties of business, 
or of the family, occupying our attention, we 
should learn how to discharge both properly, 
by consulting with God's word, and by giving 
ourselves up to his service, in prayer and praise. 
This would " prepare us for all, sustain us 
under all, and bring us through all." # By a 
frequent and stated perusal of the holy scrip- 
tures, like the bee which gathers honey from 
various flowers, we shall extract sweetness from 
.many a passage, that is passed over by the casual 
reader, and we shall be richly repaid for our 
labour. Our minds will be stored with the 
noblest truths, with the most correct sentiments, 
with the sublimest ideas. It will refine our 
taste, mitigate our sorrows, cause every moun- 
tain of difficulty to become a plain, and afford 
us an unerring map to the heavenly country : 
w 7 ith David we shall individually exclaim, " How 
sweet are thy words unto my taste ; yea, sweeter 
than honey unto my mouth. Through thy pre- 
cepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every 
false way." The more we search the scriptures, 



* Jay. 



LETTERS, 



95 



the greater will be our delight ; all other books 
will seem but as the feeble light of the taper 
compared with the noon-day sun, or as the 
cold pencilling of art, contrasted with the ani- 
mated scenery of nature. 



letter mm. 

In addition to the perusal of the scriptures, 
I earnestly recommend to you the duty, I should 
rather say, the privilege, of prayer ; w ithout 
which, all your researches after truth w ill be at- 
tended with disappointment. Prayer and felicity 
are inseparably connected ; the pious Author of 
the Night Thoughts truly observes, 

" A soul, in converse with its God, is heaven." 

I hope you tfre not a stranger to this holy exer- 
cise, and that you are not satisfied with your 
morning and evening devotions, but that you 
cultivate an habitual spirit of dedication to 
God, by seeking to possess Hannah's portion — a 
praying spirit. Christ has said, H Men ought 
always to pray, and not to faint intimating, 
no doubt, that though it is not required of us, 
always to be upon our knees, it is needful we 
should always be in a disposition to look up to 
God, and that we should send many an intel- 
lectual aspiration to heaven, while engaged in 
our secular concerns. Indulge then, a spirit of 
mental intercourse vuth " the Father of Men- 



96 



LETTERS. 



cies, and the God of all comfort/' Let other 
places, beside your closet, witness that you draw 
near to him " in the spirit of your mind." It 
is possible to have your heart engaged in com- 
munion with God in the crowded street, or in 
the midst of business ; I know this by expe- 
rience. Imitate the example of one of the 
Scoth divines, who upon his death bed ad- 
dressed his surrounding friends in the following 
manner, " If every stone, timber, and nail, in 
this house could speak, they would bear witness 
to the many hours of sweet communion my 
soul has spent with God therein." What a sa- 
tisfaction must this reflection have yielded him 
at that solemn moment ! and what a pleasing 
testimony and source of consolation, must it 
have been to his pious relatives ! If you had a 
valued friend, whose counsel you frequently 
stood in need of, and you had liberty of access 
to him at all times, you would no doubt often 
avail yourselves of the privilege ; nothing would 
be considered by you more advantageous, or 
more pleasant, than to be in his company : such 
an intercourse are you invited to keep up with 
your heavenly friend ; he has a greater affec- 
tion for you than the dearest earthly connection ; 
in all your affliction he is afflicted ; and he hath 
said, " I will never leave you, nor forsake you." 
Is he gone to heaven ? it is to plead your 
cause. He is the Advocate and Intercessor with 
the Father. 

" And he is safe and must succeed, 

■« For whom the Lord vouchsafes to plead.'" 



LETTERS* 



97 



For what did he ascend to glory ? u I go, (says 
he) to prepare a place for you ; and if I go and 
prepare a place for you, I will come again and 
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there 
ye may be also." What was his mission upon 
earth ? " Peace, good-will towards men." Does 
he compare himself to the vine ? his people 
are the branches. Is he the head r They are 
the members. Is he the good shepherd ? They 
are the sheep of his pasture. Is he the brider 
groom r They are the bride. Is he the founda- 
tion ? They are the building: yea, more, " the 
habitation of God through the Spirit." By all 
these similitudes he would attract our attention, 
and engage our affection ; and hard indeed must 
be that heart, that feels no soft emotion toward 
such a Saviour ; how encouraging is the declara- 
tion, that he will cast out none that cometh 
unto the Father through him, seeing he ever 
liveth to make intercession for them. He is the 
channel through which mercy and love is con- 
tinually flowing to the fallen children of Adam ; 
i% he is able to save unto the uttermost, all that 
come unto God by him ;" and as a dear minister 
of Christ, now no more, once observed, " who 
can tell what the uttermost of his power is ? 
the uttermost of his mercy the uttermost, of his 
love ?" # He is all condescension, he " waits to 
be gracious ;" he " is ready to forgive :" his 
terrors need not make us afraid ; for though he 
is " the Lion of the tribe of Judah to his ene- 

* Gunn. 
K 



•98 



LETTERS. 



mies — to his friends, he is " the Lamb of God, 
who taketh away the sin of the world ; and he 
says, " I even I, am he, that blotteth out thy 
transgressions for mine own sake, and will not 
remember thy sins." This is the dear friend 
that solicits your heart ; will you not acknow- 
ledge the validity of the claim ? what an honour 
and happiness will it be to give yourself up to 
his service in early life ! The promise still is 
upon record, u I love them that love me, and 
those that seek me early shall mid me :" " them 
that honour me I will honour, and they that 
despise me shall be lightly esteemed." O what 
a privilege it is to dedicate your youth to this 
dear Lord, who has " loved you and given him- 
self for you :" what a revenue of praise does 
such an offering brin'o* to him ! He loves to 
see you upon your knees ; it is an attitude far 
more graceful than the minuet step, and infi- 
nitely more becoming a creature, destined for 
immortality. Prayer is indeed the noblest, sweet- 
est employment, you can be engaged in ; if 
through grace you are found diligent in its use, 
your own experience will bear testimony both 
to its pleasures and its advantages. You will 
know that God " performeth all things for you," 
that he is a friend that takes an interest in 
ail your concerns, and will cause every event to 
be productive of your good. O how ought you 
to prize such a friend ! " all power belongs to 
him in heaven and in earth." Think of his 
greatness, he is Lord of all : he gives life, and 
he takes it away : he disarms death of its terrors ; 



LETT EES. 



99 



stnd frequently causes those who confide in him, 
to smile, amidst the pangs of dissolution. 

" Tliis God is the God we adore, 
** Our faithful unchangeable friend ; 
" Whose love, is as great as his power, 
'* And knows neither measure nor end; 
*' 'lis Jesus, the first and the last, 
u Whose spirit shall guide us safe home ; 
" We'll praise him for all that is past, 
u And trust him, for all that's to come." 

Go to him, my young friend, he will never be 
weary of your company ; he will not dismiss 
you from his presence, but will afford you re- 
peated testimonies of his love ; he will be better 
to you than all your fears, and will do for you 
" exceeding abundantly, above all that you ask 
or think." You will be made more sensible of 
his regard day by day, and his affection for you 
will be commensurate with eternity. How tender 
is his language, "Abide in me, and I in you: 
if you abide in me, and my words abide in you, 
ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done 
unto you. As the Father hath loved me, so 
have I loved you, continue ye in my love." 
Have you fears ? he will dispel them : have you 
wants i he will supply them : stand you in need 
of counsel ? he will give it you : have you dis- 
tresses ? he will remove them ; or, if continued, 
he will sanctify them : have you enemies ? he* 
will subdue them : want you happiness I with 
him " there is fulness of joy ; at his right hand 
are pleasures for evermore."-— 



100 



LETTERS. 



11 He is a path, if any be misled, 
u He is a robe, if any naked be : 
M If any chance to hunger, he is bread, 
u Jf any be in bondage, he will free; 
*' If any be but weak, how strong is he ? 
" To dead men, life he is, to sick men health, 
u To blind men sight, and to the needy wealth, 
" A pleasure without loss, a treasure without stealth.* 



LETTER XIX. 

Had I the eloquence of an Apolios, I could 
not describe to you in suited terms, the joys 
which the soul renewed by grace, experiences 
in communion with the Lord : happy, enviable 
moments ! when the world, with all its illusions, 
vanish from our sight, and faith brings heaven 
near. We participate at such highly favoured 
seasons the felicity of Angels, and have a fore- 
taste of those divine enjoyments that will be 
ours for ever, when our captive spirits are re- 
leased from their present frail abodes of sin 
and death. Indeed, the soul at such blessed 
times, is already in heaven, for it enjoys what 
constitutes its essence, the presence of Christ. 
If we pray in the Spirit, we view him, who is in- 
visible to the natural eye, and " beholding as 
in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed 
into the same image, from glory to glory, as by 
the Spirit of the Lord." The pleasures annexed 
to this delightful employment, are so great, that 
none but those who through grace have exps- 



LETTERS. 



101 



rienced them, can form a just and adequate 
idea of them : the soul thereby is filled with 
sacred rapture, and has an earnest of future 
blessedness. I am conscious of my inability 
to do justice to the subject, may your own 
experience supply my deficiency ! I feel more 
than I can express ; but if, by God's blessing, 
I should be the favoured instrument of stimu- 
lating you to seek its delights, you will abun- 
dantly confirm my testimony. How 7 apt are 
we to prize the hours we pass in the society 
of an earthly friend ! how swift they fly away ! 
they seem but moments in our view, 

4< Oh, whed my friend and T, 
" In some thick wood have wanderd heedless on, 
" Hid from the vulgar eye, and sat us down, 
41 Upon the sloping cowslip covered bank, 
*' Where the pare limpid stream has slid along, 
*' In graceful windings ihro' the underwood : 
M Sueet murraVing! — Me thought the shrill ton^ued thruili 
*' Mended its song of love ; the sooty hlackbird 
" Meliuw'd his pipe, and soften'd ev'ry note : 
" The eglantine smell'd sweeter, and the rose 
41 Assum'd a dye more deep, whilst ev'ry flower 
" Vied with its fellow plant, in luxury of dress. 
" O then the longest summer's day, 
" Seem'd too, too much, in haste ; still the full heart 
f* Had not imparted half; 'twas happiness too exquisite to last." 

Blair's Grave. 

But what are all such joys when contrasted with 
communion with our God ? The pleasure we 
receive in the company of a friend, is subject 
to an abatement from the consideration that 
K 2 



102 



LETTERS. 



we soon must part, and the thought of the adieu, 
gives a portion of regret to all our enjoyment : 
but it is not so in our intercourse with God ; 
if we are his children by adoption and grace 
in Christ Jesus, we need not fear a separation : 
death, which dissolves the dearest earthly con- 
nection, only consummates this, for it is an ever- 
lasting love ; and no power in heaven, earth, or 
hell can annihilate it: it will remain when death 
is swallowed up in victory ; when time shall he 
no more ; when millions and millions of ages 
shall have passed away. Cultivate then an en- 
larged connection w ith this best of friends ; 
" acquaint thyself with God/' and you will 
have no occasion to seek for happiness else- 
where : he is the chief good, the Alpha and 
the Omega of true felicity. We may adopt 
the language of the inimitable Cowper, and say 
with him, 

u Give what thou wilt, without thee, we are poor, 
w And with thee, rich, take what thou wilt away, 

The polluted stream of earthly enjoyment will 
be beneath our attention, when or.ce we have 
tasted of the water of life. But, O, presume 
not to approach the throne of God but through 
the Mediator's sacrifice and righteousness ; there 
is no other medium by which we can draw nigh 
to a holy, a sin-avenging God : out of Christ, 
u God is a consuming fire for we are sinners, 
and therefore obnoxious to his justice and his 
purity ; " but now in Christ Jesus, we who 



LETTERS. 



103 



sometime were afar off, are made nigh by 
the blood of Christ ; for he is our peace, and 
through him we have access by one spirit unto 
the Father, and are no more strangers and fo- 
reigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and 
of the household of God." Christ has freed us 
from the curses of the law, and henceforward 
there is no tiring required of us but to receive 
salvation as his free gift, and to evince our 
sense of the obligation, by living to his glory. 
He has promised to renew and sanctify us in 
the spirit of our minds, and to enable us to shew 
forth the high praises of God our Saviour. O 
how ought our hearts to glow with gratitude, 
for " he was wounded for our transgressions, and 
bruised for our iniquities ; the chastisement of 
our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we 
are heated/' O what a lovely Christ is ours ! 
where is his parallel in heaven or on earth ? He 
is indeed " the perfection of beauty, the chiefest 
among ten diousand, the altogether lovely. 5 ' 
Where is the cold adamantine heart that is un- 
touched at the display of mercy -and of love ex- 
hibited on Calvary's Mount ? Never be it for- 
gotten that our redemption was the price of the 
precious blood of Christ, and that it was offered 
freely, for all who feel their need of a Saviour. 
The poor broken hearted sinner he will never 
reject, and blessed be his name, " if we cannot 
come to him as saints, we may come to him as 
sinners," # But be it ever recollected, if we pre- 



* Jay. 



104 



LETTERS, 



sume upon one single action of our lives, and rest 
upon it as an introduction to his favour, we have 
not yet learnt the way to eternal life, nor have we 
any proof that Christ has been revealed in us, " the 
hope of glory." We must be brought low in our 
own esteem, ere Jesus will have the supreme place 
in our affections. If we are under divine tuition, 
we shall every day be more diffident of self, and be 
more dependant upon Christ: we must be made 
sensible of our perishing condition as sinners, and 
of our utter incapability of saving ourselves, be- 
fore we can come to the Saviour, or receive him 
as our all in all; but as soon as this conviction 
is experienced, we shall hail our gracious De- 
liverer, with as much rapture, as the condemned 
malefactor would welcome a messenger conveying 
a pardon. Degrading as I know this representa- 
tion is to unhumbled nature, it has the testi- 
mony of God's word and the experience of every 
regenerate soul, in its favour. Believe me, you 
cannot expect too much from the Saviour; he has 
said, " Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my 
name, he will give it you and again, " Ask, and 
ye shall receive, seek, and ye shall find." What a 
happiness is it to be a Christian! the name will 
profit us nothing, but to possess an evidence within 
that " cur sins, which are many, are all forgiven;" 
that Christ is our Saviour, the Holy Spirit our 
sanctifies God our Father, and heaven our home : 
what more, can we desire ? what less, can satisfy 
a soul, convinced of the eternity and value of its 
own existence ? 



LETTERS. 



105 



LETTER XX. 

Those who trust in their own good works 
for salvation are indeed the objects of our pity, 
for " being ignorant of God's righteousness, and 
going about to establish their own righteousness, 
they have not submitted themselves unto the righ- 
teousness of God." Resting upon the sandy foun- 
dation of human merit, their building cannot stand, 
in that day, when the floods of God's wrath will 
be poured out upon all who are not shut into the 
ark Christ Jesus : he is the only refuge for sinners ; 
H neither is there salvation in any other." Let us 
then fly to him alone, for safety, and confide entirely 
in his merits for everlasting life and salvation. 
What are all our righteousnesses when examined 
by the test of that law which extends not only 
to outward actions, but also " to the thoughts 
and intents of the heart ? They are denominated 
in scripture " filthy rags." We do all fade as a 
leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken 
us away." Such is the testimony of God's word: 
and what would experience say, if the motive of 
the best work we ever did was examined in all 
its points ? would there not be found in it a suffi- 
ciency of guilt, to condemn us in the sight of a 
holy God ? When we have performed an act of 
charity, has it always been the effect of dis- 
interested benevolence ? have we not sometimes 
done it "grudgingly, or of necessity?" and if we 
have been " cheerful givers," have no self-com- 
placent thoughts, no self-applauding sentiments 



106 



LETTERS. 



entered our mind ? have we not given the creature 
rather than the Creator the glory? and have we 
never considered ourselves proprietors, where we 
have been only stewards I Again, when a spirit of 
repentance has possessed our minds, and we have 
really felt a broken and a contrite heart, how soon 
after weeping at the feet of Jesus, have proud 
thoughts of our own goodness, rendered even our 
humility a snare, and we have imperceptibly got 
out of the spirit of the meek and lowly Saviour, 
and have again entered into our own spirits. 
Many other instances I might quote, but these are^ 
I trust, sufficient to induce us to say with the 
poet, 

" No, my best actions cannot save, 

But thou must cleanse e'en them, 
** Yet, when on Christ I do believe 
A Jkty worst shall not condemn." 

Think not by these declarations, that I am an 
advocate for sin ; from ray heart I abhor it, and 
to have it, in me, entirely destroyed, would be 
the summit of my happiness. I can truly say 
I cannot be satisfied till I awake up after God's 
likeness ; and I ould be " holy, even as he is 
holy: 57 but I have not yet attained, neither am 
I already perfect : it is my desire, nevertheless, 
to be enabled to say with the apostle, u This one 
thing I do, forgetting those tilings which are be- 
hind and reaching forth unto those tilings which 
are before, I press toward the mark, for the prize 
of the high calling of God m Christ Jesus." 
Holiness and good works are evidences and fruits 



LETTERS. 



107 



*of being interested in Christ's salvation, but they 
are not the procuring causegj of it; while they 
exhibit to mankind a mark, whereby ihe children of 
God may be discovered ; they cannot be pleaded 
as meritorious before that God, who will not 
account us righteous, but as we are found inter- 
ested in the righteousness of Christ, which is, 
" unto all, and upon all, ihem that believe." This 
doctrine is fully and forcibly illustrated by the 
parable of the marriage of the king's son, in 
which we find that the man that had not on the 
wedding garment (by which no doubt was intended 
the righteousness of Christ) was " cast into outer 
darkness, where there was weeping and gnashing 
of teeth/' To trust in any thing we can do to 
merit salvation, manifests ignorance of our own 
characters as sinners, and of the spirituality of 
that law, which demands perfect obedience, in 
thought, will, and affection; hence, it deems a las- 
civious thought, adultery; a covetous thought, 
idolatry ; an angry thought deserving of hell fire : 
as you will find by referring to Christ's explana- 
tion of it, in his memorable sermon upon the 
mount. " If I justify myself, (said Job) my -own 
mouth shall condemn me ; if I say I am per- 
fect, it shall also prove me perverse." The scrip- 
tures teach us, that after we have done all things, 
" we are unprofitable servants;" they unequivo- 
cally declaie, that u there is none righteous, no 
not one ;" that " by the deeds of the law, there 
shall no flesh be justified;" that " every mouth 
must be stopped, and all the world become 
guilty before God." How then can man be jus- 



108 



BETTERS. 



tified before God ? The enquiry is fully answered 
in divine revelation. " Christ has redeemed us 
from the curse of the law being made a curse for 
us;' " " he was made sin for us, who knew no sin, 
that we might be made the righteousness of God 
in him." ".As by the offence of one, judgment 
came upon all men unto condemnation, even so 
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came 
upon all men unto justification of life ; for as by 
one man's disobedience many were made sinners, 
so by the obedience of one shall many be made 
righteous; that as sin hath reigned unto death, even 
so might grace reign through righteousness, unto 
eternal life." Hence says the apostle to the 
Ephesian converts, " By grace are ye saved 
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the 
gift of God ; not of works, lest any man should 
boast :" and elsewhere, this is his confession, " God 
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, 
hath shine d in our hearts, to give the light of the 
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of 
Jesus Christ, but we have this treasure in earthen 
vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of 
God and not of us." I have thus given you many 
scriptures which seem to me, to fully establish the 
doctrine before-mentioned, and it remains for the 
adversaries of Christianity, to find a purer source 
of intelligence.' I earnestly recommend to your 
prayerful attention, the whole of St. Paul's 
Epistles ; in them, the doctrines of grace are vin- 
dicated, in the most able manner, and the purest 
morality is enforced upon gospel principles. The 
apostle well knew the grace of God, for he wai 



LETTERS. 



100 



the subject of distinguished mercy ; lie styles himself 
before his 'conversion, a blasphemer, a perse- 
cutor, and injurious ; but (says he) I obtained 
mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might shew 
forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them which 
should hereafter believe on him, to life ever- 
lasting." With what humility does he speak of 
himself! " last of all, Christ was seen of me also, 
as of one bom out of due time, for I am the least 
of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an 
apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God : 
but by the grace of God, I am what I am ; and 
his grace which was bestowed upon me, was not 
in vain, but I laboured more abundantly than they 
all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was 
with me/' May we be sharers of Paul's mer- 
cies, and catch a spark of that flame of love to 
the Saviour, which burnt in so pure and eminent 
a degree upon the altar of his heart ! Seek, I en- 
treat you, the pleasures which Christ has to bestow! 
they are durable, they are everlasting! meditate 
much upon his love, you can never sufficiently 
admire it : give him your heart, he has given his 
life for you. Hear him addressing his Father on 
the behalf of each of his saints, " Deliver him 
from going down to the pit, I have found a ran- 
som;" and that we may not be ignorant to whom 
this ransom refers, the apostle says, " there is one 
God and one Mediator between God and man, 
the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom 
for all." While this animating truth meets your 
eye, may your heart overflow with gratitude to the 
Redeemer! and may you unreservedly give your- 

L 



110 



LETTERS. 



self up to his service ! seek him in prayer, m me- 
ditation, in the ordinances of his house, in Chris- 
tian converse, in his word, in Providence, and in 
books that speak of him : acquaint yourself with 
those that are u Israelites indeed;" with such as 
bear his image : open your mind freely to them, 
you will find your confidence returned by friendly 
counsel and advice, that with the blessing of God, 
may be the means of strengthening your faith, 
and of confirming your principles. But let your 
companions be few and well chosen, and do not 
think that spirituality of conversation, is always, a 
proof of sincerity; judge by actions rather than 
by words ; by consistency of conduct, rather than 
by volubility of speech; the unprofitable cata- 
ract makes a louder noise than the gentle rivulet, 
that waters and refreshes many a meadow. Should 
it not be your felicity to meet with such com- 
panions, recollect that there is One who fills hea- 
ven and earth with his glory, that has promised 
to be " with you always/' and who will never re- 
fuse to counsel and direct you, if " in all your 
ways you acknowledge him." He has said " I 
love them that love me, and those that seek me 
early shall find me." " Riches and honour are 
with me, yea, durable riches and righteousness : 
my fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold, and 
my revenue than choice silver : I lead in the way 
of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of 
judgment, that I may cause those that love me, to 
inherit substance, and I will fill their treasures." 
O, how encouraging are these promises ! what an 
incitement to seek his favour! " Wilt thou not 



LETTERS. 



from this time cry unto God, " My father ! thou 
art the guide of my youth!" " Then shalt thou 
call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, 
and he shall say, Here I am ! then shall thy light 
rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon- 
day, the Lord shall guide thee continually and 
satisfy thy soul, and thou shalt be as a watered 
garden, and like a spring of water, whose w r aters 
fail not." 



LETTER XXI. 

u PlI.member now thy Creator in the days of 
thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the 
years draw nigh, when thou shalt say I have no 
pleasure in them," is the advice of one who 
was* eminently distinguished for wisdom. Those 
who in early life devote themselves to the service 
of God, and through grace live consistent with 
their profession, however a misjudging world may 
disapprove their choice, will find the assertion 
true, that " Blessed is every one that feareth the 
Lord, that w-alketh in his ways." Contrasted with 
the solid and satisfactory enjoyments of the Chris- 
tian, how mean and contemptible are . all the 
boasted pleasures of the worldling ! what are they 
all, but vanity and folly ! May you be enabled to 
say to every sinful diversion, 

u No longer will I ask jour love, 

" Nor seek your friendship more, 
*<~The happiness that I approve, 

" Is not within your power. 



LETTERS. 



!* There's nothing round this spacious earth, 

" That suits ray vast desire, 
e< To boundless joy and solid mirth, 

u My nobler thoughts aspire." 

Watts, 

These sentiments may seem chimerical to those 
whose hearts have never been changed by grace, 
but they are in perfect unison with the wishes 
and feelings of every regenerate soul. I purpose 
now to draw these letters to a conclusion; they 
have far exceeded the limits I originally intended, 
but I cannot lay down my pen without saying how 7 
much I feel interested in your future welfare. I 
consider you as a second mother to your sisters ; 
and every year, the importance of the office will 
be encreased : they will naturally look up to their 
elder sister for direction, and what an edifying or 
baneful influence, will your example have ! If you 
are vain and trifling, conformed to the world in its 
pursuits and pleasures, adopting its indelicate 
fashions, they will naturally seek in you, an apolo- 
gist for their inconsistencies : and permit me here, 
especially to caution you against sanctioning by 
your example, that scandalous deviation from ab- 
solute decency, so observable in the dress of 
many females of the present day; be assured, if 
you would really adorn yourself, it can only be 
done with " modest apparel :" it is a sin and a 
shame that " women professing godliness/' should 
ape the loose attire of those, who are " lovers 
of pleasure, more than lovers of God." How 
offensive is such conduct to public morals ! how 
inconsistent with the avowed principles of Chris- 



LETTERS. 



113 



tian profession! how painful to the feelings of 
those, who have the glory of God and the welfare 
of souls at heart ! Is this, being dead to the world, 
and having the life " hid with Christ in God ?" 
Is this, being u risen with Christ," and seeking 
" those things which are above r" Is this, setting 
the affections on things above, and not on things 
on the earth r" Is this, mortifying the members ? 
Is this, being a transformed in the renewing of the 
minct ?" Is this, proving " what is the good, and 
acceptable, and perfect will of God?" let con« 
science answer these inquiries. 

"An heav'nly mind, 
u May be indm'rent to her house of clay, 
" And slight the hovel as beneath her care; 
M But how a body so fantastic, trim, # 
* And quaint, in its deportment and attire, 
M Can lodge an heav'nly mind — demands a doubt?" 

COWPER, 

I knew a good mau once, who meeeting with an 
acquaintance of his, a professor of the gospel, 
dressed in the very height of the ton, thus fami- 
liarly addressed him, " If you no longer belong to 
the devil, why do you not strike his colours ?" 
And a preacher, in a large congregation, not many 
years since, addressed the female part of his au- 
ditory in nearly the following terms ; " My fair 
hearers, give not credence to the flattering appel- 
lation which some of our sex are apt to bestow 
upon you, when they call you Angels ; in one par- 
ticular, (said he) I am sure there pre some of you 
that do not resemble them ; — Angels always ap~ 
L2 



114 



LETTERS. 



pear clothed." I am here reminded of an anec- 
dote which appeared some time ago in the Evan- 
gelical Magazine ;— " A new married female was 
relating to an aged friend, the many good qualities 
of her husband, stating that he was the best and 
kindest of men, &c. ; the old gentleman, desirous 
of admonishing her of the indelicacy of her dress 
listened to her very attentively, and when she had 
finished, said to her very gravely, " Why, Madam, 
I should be very willing to accredit your report, 
did I not consider that one essential part of the 
duty of a good husband, is to provide suitable 
apparel for his wife, but yours I perceive, permits 
you to be but half clothed." From the foregoing 
observations, you will perceive how necessary it 
is to be circumspect in your appearance, as well as 
in your conduct. Certain it is that the fashions 
of modern times are very inimical to that " shame- 
facedness and sobriety" which the apostle so stre- 
nuously recommends as ornamental to women 
" professing godliness." Natural affection will 
prompt your sisters to pay particular attention 
to your counsel, you will be their confidant, 
and you will have frequent opportunities of speak- 
ing to them a word in season, in matters wherein 
diffidence and parental respect will prevent them 
from making application to their mother : the idea 
of the authority connected with that relation, is 
frequently with young people, a drawback to fami- 
liarity, and however a parent may wish to excite 
confidence, it is I believe rarely enjoyed. But 
this reserve, arising frequently from respect and 
difference of age, is at once removed with bro- 



LETTERS. 



115 



thers and sisters ; your opinion therefore will be 
often required, and your decision will bias their 
judgment. May you acquit yourself in this im- 
portant station in a way honourable to God ; and 
satisfactory to your own conscience ! 



LETTER XXII. 

I am now about to bid you adieu, it is 
possible we may no more meet each other on 
this side of eternity, but if we are partakers of 
the grace of God, it will be but a temporary 
separation, and we shall join each other in a state 
of unabating felicity. I iook forward with anxious 
solicitude, to that eventful period ; it is my ar- 
dent prayer that we may rejoice together in 
Christ Jesus here, and share with him his glory 
hereafter. " But a little while, and as well the 
hand which has written, as the eye which reads 
these lines, shall become cold and inactive, and 
moulder in the dust;" and the use or abuse of 
them and the other members of our body, will, 
at the tribunal of the Almighty, give their evi- 
dence in our favor or against us. " Speedily, O 
my' friend, our days will be completed, and we 
must bid an eternal adieu to all things here 
below ; then let us live like those, who are con- 
scious of the solemn truth ; like those who know 
they must ere long die ; who know that they 
must live for ever : so shall we make our sal- 
vation sure, and however separated from each 



116 



LETTERS. 



other here, we shall, through our exalted Re- 
deemer, meet and rejoice together in his bliss- 
ful kingdom above, where sorrow and affliction 
shall be known no more/'* It is an awful 
and an alarming reflection that to each of us 
will be addressed at the last day, either the 
delightful invitation of " Come, ye blessed of 
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for 
you, from before the foundation of the world/' or 
the dreadful sentence of " Depart from me ye 
cuised, into everlasting fire prepared for the 
devil and his angels." When I meditate upon 
the events of that important day, my heart 
trembles within me ; I feel a mixture of pain- 
ful anxiety and holy joy. When I consider how 
trifling and unimportant will then appear, the 
applause or censure of mankind, I am vexed 
■with myself that I should ever court the one, or 
fear the other. May we learn to die daily to 
the world and all its vanities, and live indepen- 
dent of its frown or its smile : may our love to 
Chnst " abound yet more and more, in know- 
ledge and in all judgment, that we may ap- 
prove things that are excellent, and that we may 
be sincere and without offence till the day of 
Christ, being filled with the fruits of r ghteous- 
ness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory 
and praise of God/' May our life " be hid with 
Christ in God, that when Christ, who is our 
life, shall appear, we may also appear with him 
in glory/' May our conduct and behaviour be 



* Dodd's Reflections on Death. 



LETTERS. 



H7 



6iich, that the world may have reason to take 
knowledge of us, that we have been with Jesus ! 
And should the way to our eternal abode be 
rugged and in our journey through the wilder- 
ness, we should not meet with the accommodations 
of a home, let us rejoice in the thought that 
even' step we take, brings us nearer to our 
Father's house. Let every thorn and briar in 
our path, urge us to mend our pace, and prompt 
\\s not to loiter, in a way beset with so many 
dangers. May we consider ourselves as " strangers 
and pilgrims on the earth," and declare plainly 
that we seek, " a better country, that is an 
heavenly!" May we know that " God is not 
ashamed to be called our God, and that he 
hath prepared for us a city." Yet let us not 
refuse to commune with the inhabitants of the 
land through which we have to pass to our 
heavenly Canaan, nor omit performing for them 
every act of kindness in our power. Let us 
" be pitiful and courteous, not rendering evil for 
evil, or railing for railing, but contrariwise bless- 
ing ;" and thus manifest that the religion of Jesus 
creates in ail its disciples " good-will to men." 
Let us say to them, as Moses did to his father- 
in-law, " We are journeying unto the place of 
which the Lord said I will give it you ; come 
thou with us, and we will do thee good, for 
the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel." 
The principles of Christianity ever implant in 
the mind universal benevolence ; and so far from 
shutting up the kingdom of heaven, or confining 
its possession to a sect or party, it " is open to 



118 



LETTERS, 



all believers," and none are excluded, but those 
who exclude themselves : none are rejected, but 
those who will not come to Christ, that they 
may have life. May it be our happy lot to 
travel to Zion with a large company, and to 
have those in our train, who once, through 
ignorance, opposed the truth, and their own 
mercies : yea, may many be sharers of our joy 
who now condemn our course, and ovir bit- 
terest enemies participate the rich blessings of 
Christ's salvation. Attending to the divine com- 
mand of our lovely Saviour, may we, " bless 
them that curse us, do good to them that hate 
us, and pray for them which despitefully use us 
and persecute us thus shall we prove, that 
we are " the children of our Father who is in 
heaven, who maketh his sun to arise, on the evil 
and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just 
and on the unjust." We wish all to love the 
Saviour and to participate our felicity, and no- 
thing short of our own salvation would afford us 
greater happiness, than to meet those in glory, 
who now, through ignorance and prejudice, con- 
sider the religion we profess fanaticism or hypo- 
crisy. Our God is able to accomplish our 
wishes ; never then let us forget them at a throne 
of grace, for they are fellow mortals. But for 
God's enlightening Spirit, we should have been 
as blinded by prejudice, and as bitter in our in- 
vectives against the truth, as they are ; let us 
not, therefore, be high minded, but fear : be 
humble and grateful to our God, who has dis- 
tinguished us by his grace : and strive by all 



LETTERS. 



119 



laudable means, to gain them proselytes to his 
cause. Should we be the honoured instruments 
of turning some poor sinner from the error of 
his way, what an unspeakable happiness will it 
alford us ! how much more enviable a blessing 
will it be, than to have worlds at our disposal ! 
" They that be wise shall shine as the brightness 
of the firmament, and they that turn many to 
righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever." 
What an honour is connected with such a ser- 
vice ! angels contemplate it w T ith satisfaction, 
and it forms a part of the joy of heaven. Let 
us then by example, precept, and every other 
mean m our power, strive to win souls to Christ. 
Tli is may be done in various ways ; all the Lord's 
people have not the same talent ; some have an 
aptitude to teach poor children the rudiments of 
education ; others to speak a word in season to 
the sick and afflicted ; and some have a capability 
of exhorting in the villages and workhouses : all 
should be active in the Lord's work, and im- 
prove whatever talent they have had committed 
to them, to promote his interest and glory in 
the world. If Job could say, " how forcible 
are right words/' may w e not add, how 7 beneficial, 
how impressive, how irresistible, is a right con- 
duct ! a steady upright consistent walk, in the 
ways of holiness and of God ! The infidel can 
argue as well as the Christian, and by sophistry 
he may gain the advantage, but he fails, when 
the influence of his principles is tried by the 
test of a holy life. Let us then shew" the ex- 
cellence of our faith by our practice, and thus, 



120 



LETTERS. 



" by patient continuance in well doing, put to 
silence the ignorance of foolish men." But re- 
collect we can do nothing without the grace of 
God ; u we cannot go a step further than the 
Lord leads us, nor stand a moment longer than 
he supports us/'* u Hold thou up my goings 
in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not/' is a 
good prayer, and would we come up safely and 
honourably from the wilderness, we must lean 
every step of the way upon the arm of the 
Beloved. 



LETTER XXfitL 

The partizans of Satan are indefatigable in 
his service ; they invite unhappy individuals to 
join his standard ; and publicly hoist his banners 
in this great town, to which, alas ! numbers flock 
and enlist. Pleasure is the proposed bounty 
money : and allured by the tempting bait, the 
poor creatures forget that it is the earnest of 
eternal misery : hence, without thought or re- 
flection, they sell their souls to work wickedness, 
and become in their turn, active agents in the 
deviPs cause. When rebels and traitors to the 
King of Heaven manifest such zeal and activity, 
shall the servants of the living God be lukewarm 
in his cause ? shall they notice without concern, 
the overflowing theatre, that prolific soil of 



LETTERS. 



almost every evil, that vortex of dissipation and 
ruin, where religion is openly ridiculed, and God 
himself is blasphemed r shall they be " as those 
that hear not, and in whose mouth are no re- 
proofs ?" surely such co3iduct is highly censurable. 
O let us look up to Qod for grace, that we 
may, in every company, bear a decided testimony 
against all that is opposed to the glory of God, 
and the good of souls. Let us be more tender 
for the Lord's honour than for our own reputa- 
tion, and prefer the honest approval of our own 
conscience, (though attended with the sarcasm 
and reproach of the foolish,) to their favour, with 
the loss of that peace which fidelity to God 
clone, can secure. May we be " faithful unto 
death," and we shall have u a crown of life." 
Vv e fight under the banners of a captain that 
never lost a battle, and who has promised to 
bring us off more than Conquerors : all heaven 
is engaged in our behalf, and success is sure to 
attend the contest. What have we then to fear ? 
M The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, 
and his ears are open unto their prayers, but the 
face of the Lord is against them that do evil." 
And "who is he that will harm you," (says the 
word of God,) " if ye be followers of that which 
is good." " No weapon that is formed against 
thee shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise 
against thee in judgment, thou shalt condemn ; 
this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, 
and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord." 
Let us then dispute the ground with our great 
adversary, and if we cannot expe] him entirely 

i m 



122 



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from the field, having done all, may we be en- 
abled still to stand. May we strive against sin, 
resisting even unto death ; and thus shew the 
enemy what it is to have a Christian to com- 
bat with. Let us be dauntless and intrepid ; 
our's is an honourable, it is the best of causes. 
The laurels of victory* are prepared, and ere 
long shall grace our brows ; the shouts of triumph 
are already heard, as harbingers of conquest : 
the day of conflict will soon be past ; our war- 
fare in the purposes of God is even now ac- 
complished, and we shall speedily leave the field 
of blood for the realms of eternal glor>. We 
may be called to " endure hardness as good 
soldiers of Jesus Christ," and even be wounded 
in his service, but we cannot be slain, for the 
command is given, " Touch not his life." Let 
cowardice then be banished from our breasts ; it 
is a disgraceful principle, deserving reprobation 
in all, but particularly in a Christian. What ! 
shall the gallant veteran make his way through 
embattled hosts, and with dauntless courage, face 
death in a thousand shapes ? — Shall he, (stimulated 
alone by a love to his country,) seize the stan- 
dard of the enemy, and triumphantly carry off 
his prize ? Shall patriotism urge him to the 
hazardous enterprize, and shall we draw back 
when the Saviour calls us to the fight ? let 
gratitude answer the question ; and if love will 
not secure our intrepidity, we are unworthy of the 
name we bear. Life is short, judgment is sure, Death 
is hastening on, now only " is the accepted time," 
" now only is the day of salvation," to-morrow we 



LETTERS. 



123 



may be in eternity : let us then " work while it 
is called to-day, for the night cometh, in which 
no man can work." 

u There are no acts of pardon past, 
" In the cold grave, to which we haste, 
M But darkness, death, and long despair, 
" Dwell in eternal silence there." 

Watts, 

When I consider the uncertainty of life, I trem- 
ble to neglect the present moment. The world, 
with its blandishments, will strive to divert us 
from the thought of death, and Satan with 
an endless variety of amusements, will endeavour 
to beguile us from reflection ; but let us re- 
collect though we may forget death, he will not 
forget us ; at the appointed time we shall be 
the singled victim of his power. The awful die 
is cast, as sinners, we are under the sentence of 
death ; and the warrant waits only the sanction 
of the King of Heaven, to be put into immediate 
execution. If the condemned prisoners in New- 
gate were to pass the short residue of their time 
in vain diversions, or in reading of novels, would 
you not pity their depraved condition, and deeply 
lament the obduracy of their hearts : — you would 
justly pronounce them lost to every sense of 
feeling and propriety. — And is the conduct of the 
world more consistent ? do they not even 

" Ransack tombs for pastime ; 
" From the dust, call up the sleeping hero, 
* And bid him tread the scene 



1£4 



LETTERS. 



" For their amusement, while like Gods thej sit, 

" And wrapt in immortality, shed gen'rous tears 
" On wretches born to die, their fate deploring, 

" And forget their own V 

Young. 

Such is the folly, such the inconsistency, that 
marks the conduct of many of our fellow creatures, 
Do we want proofs of the uncertainty of human 
life ? there is scarcely a newspaper without a list 
of obituaries, and how often do they record 
casualties, by which some are precipitately, with- 
out a moment's notice, hurried off this mortal 
scene. And what has been the fate of others, 
may be ours: we are in the post of danger, and 
our lives are in jeopardy every hour ; we may retire 
to our repose at night in health, and the returning 
morn may find us locked, not in the arms of 
sleep, but of death. Are such instances un- 
common ? let us not then trust, as some do, to 
a death-bed repentance ; if a little space is then 
allotted us, we shall have enough to struggle 
with, without the additional pangs of a guilty con- 
science. Are not mementos of death often in our 
view ? Can we walk in any frequented place, with- 
out meeting niany, whose sable dress bespeak th«t 
recent loss of some relative or friend ? Man goeth 
to his long home, and the mourners go about the 
streets. How often > to the stately mansion, is at- 
tached the melancholy hatchment ; and whilst the 
extensive domain, bears the appellation of its late 
flattered possessor, he has abruptly left its enjoy- 
ments, and has no other distinction but a monument, 
the laboured production of the sculptor, and an 



LETTERS. 



125 



epitaph, the vain eulogium of the venal poet. 
Nay, perhaps, the meanest of his cattle graze 
upon his grave, and feast upon the herbage it 
produces. Such is the instability of human great- 
ness ! such the transitory state of worldly enjoy- 
ments ! May our ambition soar beyond the 
fleeting pleasures of the present scene ! and a 
title be secured us to a better mansion, " A 
house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens.'' 



LETTER XXIV. 

We are reminded of death even by books, 
for they are, for the most part, the produc- 
tions of authors long since extinct. Buildings 
too, if of any long standing, are mementos of 
the same melancholy subject : they present us 
with the labours of past ages ; nor are such 
works, though composed of stone itself, ex- 
empt from the general decay of nature. The 
hoary pile, the venerable fabric, whose cloistered 
aisles have entombed succeeding generations, 
by the ravages of time, at last become a heap 
of ruins. While such objects present to our 
view an august picture of abject greatness, they 
furnish to the thoughtful mind, a forcible me- 
mento of its own mortality. Since then " it is 
appointed unto all, once to die," and the grave 
is the house destined for all living, let us not 
M 2 



126 



LETTERS. 



repine, but prepare to enter our humble abode, 
It is the peculiar privilege of the Christian to 
hail the king of terrors with a smile, and even 
to long for his approach : he can say with Paul, 
when faith is in exercise, " I have a desire to 
depart, and to be with Christ which is far better f 
and with David, " Though I walk through the 
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no 
evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff 
they comfort me/' Blessed Jesus, though the 
valley be dark, thou wilt not leave us in it ; thou 
wilt be our guide and our companion through 
it : and thanks be to thy name it is but a shadow 7 , 
the shadow of an evening that will produce a 
bright morning, yea, " a morning without 
clouds. Hence the shroud is no longer the 
habiliment of woe, but of joy ; no longer the 
prison garment, but the wedding robe : the 
coffin no more appears the object of dismay; 
and the moment of dissolution, however through 
the weakness and infirmity of the flesh, it may 
now be dreaded, will, when it arrives, be the 
happiest moment we ever knew : it will fulfil 
our most sanguine hopes ; it will consummate 
our sublimest desires. We shall hear the Saviour 
say, " Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, 1 
have called thee by thy name, thou art mine." 
Blessed Jesus, and is it so t why then I will 
look at my grave clothes more wishfully, than 
the bride beholds her nuptial attire : my captive 
spirit, like the bird depiived of liberty, will long 
for the moment of releasement, and as soon 
as it gets its dismissal from a body of sin, it 



LETTERS. 



127 



will sing at heaven's gate, even at " thine altars, 

Lord of Hosts ! my King, and my God." 
" He is not here, he is risen !" is a suitable motto 
for the tomb-stone of every Christian, for he 
only passes through the dreary passage of death, 
to the kingdom of his Father and his God. 
Faith in Christ imparts a hope full of im- 
mortality : behold the venerable Simeon ! ripe 
for glory ! with ecstasy he exclaims, (holding the 
infant Saviour in his arms,) " Lord, now lettest 
thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes 
have seen thy salvation/' At the period Simeon 
uttered the foregoing exclamation, the Saviour 
had not atchieved the conquest of sin, death, 
and hell ; the glorious work of redemption was 
not yet finished ; but the venerable Saint trusted 
the promise of a never-changing God, and by 
faith he anticipated its fulfilment. Let us by 
the same means surmount the fear of death. 

1 know that all constitutions are not alike, and 
that the body and soul are so intimately con- 
nected, that the infirmities and diseases of the 
one have often an influence upon the other. I 
am sensible that there are many of whose in- 
terest in Christ we cannot entertain a doubt, 
" who through fear of death, are all their life- 
time subject to bondage but what cannot 
grace effect r It is the privilege of the Christian 
not only to oppose this fear, but to exclaim with 
the apostle, u Thanks be unto God ! who giveth 
me the victory, through my Lord Jesus Christ t 9 
Howevor Satan may harass the minds of weak 
believers, with dreadful forebodings of the eventful 



128 



LETTERS. 



hour, they will know when it arrives, that the 
Lord has taken away the sting of death, and 
has changed the curse to a blessing. With the 
Psalmist trey v ill be enabled individually to 
exclaim, " My llesh and my heart faileth, but 
God is the strength of my heart, and my por- 
tion for ever." A tried friend is a true friend, 
such a friend is Jesus Christ : he is the ff bro- 
ther bom for adversity," and he will cause us to 
know in our final hour, that the consolations of 
God are neither few nor small with us. Numbers 
have departed in triumph, who were the subjects 
of much fear and despondency : they have not 
only breathed the unfeigned language of resig- 
nation, but have even gloried in the approach 
of death, and ardently longed for die auspicious 
moment, exclaiming with the mother of Sisera, 
u Why is his chariot so long in coming r why 
tarry the wheels of his chariot :" The ancient 
promise, " I will never leave thee, nor forsake 
thee," is still verified in the experience of thou- 
sands in their last moments. If u a friend in 
need is a friend indeed," such a friend is the 
Saviour ; let us then rely upon the gracious 
declaration, " as thy day is, so shall thy strength 
be." How much of his goodness has he already 
caused to pass before us in the land of the 
living ! how often has he been " a present help 
in trouble ! <? how frequently has he made bare 
his arm in our deliverance ! our band of meal 
has not wasted, nor our cruise of oil failed ! 
Many a long year has he fed and clothed us in 
the wilderness, and caused us again and again 



LETTERS, 



129 



to exclaim, " What has God wrought Surely 
then each of us may say, 

" His love in times past, forbids me to think, 

M He'li leave me at last, in trouble to sink ; 

" Each sweet Ebenezer- I have in review, 

M Confirms his good pleasure, to help me quite through/' 

Newton, 

O, how many volumes could Christians write, of 
their experience of the goodness of God, even 
in his providential dealings ! with Flavel they could 
*ay, " Here it prevented, and there it delivered: 
here it directed, and there it corrected: here was 
the poison, and there the antidote : now it raised a 
dismal cloud, and then it dispelled it again : here a 
want, and there a supply: this Relation withered, 
and that sprang up in its room : O, what a world 
of rarities are to be found in Providence! the 
blind heedless world make nothing of them ; they 
cannot find one sweet morsel, where a gracious 
soul will make a rich feast. The bee derives a 
sweeter meal from a single flower, than the ox 
doth from the whole meadow, where thousands of 
them grow." O that we resembled the bee more, 
then we should no longer distrust his love, nor 
fear where no fear was. What fools we are to 
draw back, when heaven is opening to our view: 
what simpletons, to tremble at the approach of 
death, when he comes " to proclaim liberty to the 
captive, and the opening of the prison to them that 
are bound when he comes to " appoint unto 
them that mourn, beauty for ashes, the oil of joy 
for mourning, and the garment of praise for the 



130 



LETTERS. 



spirit of heaviness/' When he comes, to release 
the regenerate soul from a body of sin and death, 
and to waft the long imprisoned spirit, to the re- 
gions of light and immortality. 



LETTER XXV. 

I can account for ungodly people fearing 
death : — it is natural they should have such feel- 
ings, for it wrests them from all their enjoyments, 
and presents to their view " a certain fearful look- 
ing for of judgment but for those who really 
love the Saviour, to entertain such alarms, evidences 
little faith. Though I thus speak, I frequently 
want the consolations I would offer, but blessed 
be God, there are other seasons, in which I can 
look forward with holy rejoicing to this eventful 
moment. I doubt not, should tribulation then 
abound, " consolation will much more abound 
the Lord hath already done much for me, and 
he is saying unto me, " thou shalt see greater 
things than these/' The trials and difficulties 
through which he has already brought me, are sure 
pledges of his future help, and are proofs suffi- 
cient to convince me, (except when the enemy 
takes advantage of my low desponding frame,) 
that no one is able to pluck me out oi his hand, 
especially as he has said of all his sheep, " I give 
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish/' 
I remember reading an account of one of the 
/nartyrs, who, notwithstanding he had witnessed 



LETTERS. 



131 



a good confession before men, and was resolved 
rather to bum for the Saviour, than to deny him; 
in the short interval between his trial and his 
martyrdom, became so full of doubts and fears 
respecting his love to the Lord, as to apprehend, 
that after all, he should make shipwreck of his 
faith, or that if he was enabled to pass the fiery 
ordeal, Christ would still cast him out as a hypo- 
crite. A Christian friend endeavoured by every 
argument in his power, to convince him of the 
unwarrantableness and injustice of such a sus- 
picion; and he assured him that he would cer- 
tainly find the Saviour " a God near at hand/' 
when most he would need his help. The day of 
execution arrived, the gloom with ten-fold black- 
ness enveloped his mind, his evidences for glory 
were dark and confused, but he continued firm 
in his adherence to the Saviour: his body was 
fastened to the stake, the fire was kindled, and 
at that moment, in an ecstasy of joy, not to be 
described, he cried out, " He is come ! he is 
come ! 

" Just in the last distressing hour, 
" The Lord displays his sov'reign pow*rj 
u The mount of danger is the place, 
" Where we shall find surprizing grace. 5 ' 

And thus I trust it will be with us; fears may 
depress our spirits, perhaps to the moment of 
dissolution, but then the Lord will bid them all 
depart, and enable us by faith to triumph in his 
redeeming love, and to exclaim with the dying 
martyr, " He is come ! he is come !" I have but 



132 



LETTERS* 



one thing more to add, and that is to remind you 
of the assistance you may render to the cause of 
Christ by giving yourself up to his service in 
early life. I know that grace only will enable you 
to effect it ; but if you pray for that grace, he 
that taught you to feel your want of it, will supply 
" all your need out of his riches in glory by Christ 
Jesus." Think how much you may recommend 
religion by your example, and it may be, you will 
shame out of their lukewarm state, those, who 
no longer are suspected of possessing a zeal with- 
out knowledge, but who are justly chargeable with 
having a knowledge without zeal. Few characters, 
I believe, are greater burdens to their ministers, 
and greater hindrances to the growth of young 
professors. High in doctrine, abstracted in sen- 
timent, and bigoted to a party, they condemn all 
those frames and feelings that are surely desirable 
at every period, and which are so generally be- 
stowed upon young converts, in their first espousals 
to the Saviour. That such frigid dry professors 
have grace, we will not absolutely deny, but if 
we admit the fact, we must say as an eminent 
minister once did of his wife, " it is grafted upon 
a Crab-tree stock." It were well if in the vine- 
yard of the professing church, our teeth were 
never set on edge with the crab, where, from its 
sunny situation, and rich soil, we have a right to 
expect sweeter fruit. Piety in youth, though a 
rare quality, is not an exotic, even in this de- 
generate ?ge : blessed be God, he has not left him- 
self without witness ! there are not a few among 
the youth of the present day, who have, by grace, 



LETTERS. 



133 



been enabled to relinquish the blandishments of 
a world which lieth in wickedness, and have 
counted the reproach of Christ, greater riches than 
all the treasures of Egypt. May you join this 
honourable band; and if God should call you 
away in the bloom of youth, you will depart in 
triumph. Your friends may drop a tear over your 
grave, but a smile of sacred joy will irradiate 
their countenance ; while they recollect how early 
a dismissal the Saint has obtained from this vale of 
tears p and should you be spared to riper years, 
and the gravity of the matron succeed the spright- 
liness and vivacity of youth, your life will still be 
useful, your example animating, your end honour- 
able and happy. u Godliness is profitable unto 
all things, having promise of the life that now is, 
and of that which is to come :" it gives to youth 
additional charms, to old age, reverence and 
esteem. However the world may affect to de- 
spise it, its beauties are so attractive, as to cause 
even infidels to own its excellence, though at the 
same time it covers them with confusion and with 
shame; it is so amiable in itself, that if there 
was no heaven to look forward to, no sparkling 
crown, no glorious eternity, the joy and peace 
it affords in the present state, would be sufficient 
to make us love and venerate it. May you, 
through grace, be increasingly sensible of its 
advantages; and when the angel of death calls 
you away from the present scene, may you " be 
found iu Christ, not having your owa righte- 
ousness, which is of the law, but that which is 
through the faith of Christ, the righteousness 



134 



LETTERS* 



which is of God by faith/* and have myriads of 
happy spirits to waft you to the realms of im- 
mortality. There may you join the multitude of 
the redeemed around the throne, and with a 
harp of unceasing praise, ascribe salvation to God 
and the Lamb, for ever and evef*. Now " unto 
him that is able to keep you from falling, and to 
present you faultless before the presence of 
his glory, with exceeding joy, to the only 
wise God, our Saviour, be glory and majesty 7 , 
dominion and power, both now and for^ever, 
Amen." 



LETTERS. 



PART THE SECOND, 



SELECT LETTERS OF FRIENDSHIP. 



LETTER I._S. W. 
DEAR FRIEND, 

I Arrived at Winchester about four o'clock 

in the afternoon of the ultimo, in one of the 

long Southampton coaches ; and the next morning, 
after a short journey over verdant downs, with 
a great extent of beautiful country around me, 
I reached the place of my destination, which I 
found to be an old mansion, built, I believe, in 
the reign of one of the Edwards. The Gothic 
windows, arched doors, and stone hall ; the antique 
structure of the building, together with the awful 
stillness that prevailed, afforded me much matter 
for reflection. I found the principal rooms hung 
with tapestry, and the greatest part of the furniture 
very ancient. Henry the Eighth, I was told, 
kept one of his weddings here : the chair on 
which his queen had sat, remains, but through 
the decay of time, it is stripped of its splen- 
dour ; and unless its honours had been pointed out 



136 LETTERS. 

P 

to nte, I should have passed them over unnoticed, 
The house that was once the resort of royalty, 
has now gone materially to decay ; the courtly re- 
tinue and gay festivities which attended the mo- 
narch's presence, are known no more : a gardener 
is the only domestic left in the spacious mansion, 
fftid the walls echo at the sound of the human voice 
or foot. The hall and stair-case are hung with a 
great number of very old paintings, chiefly por- 
traits of warriors and illustrious characters, who 
have laid aside their armour and their titlesjianci 
have, for years been mouldering in the grave. 
Over the fire-place in the hall, there is a Latin 
motto, engraved in gilt letters, the English of 
which is, " So live, that you may ahvays live." 
The sentiment pleased me much ; it spoke to tfie 
heart, and was a silent admonition, at once faithful 
and impressive. Accustomed to the noise and 
bustle of London, the stillness that prevailed, 
struck me with peculiar solemnity; this, joined 
with an old legend of murder having been 
committed years ago within its walls, and of 
one of the chambers being haunted, would, to 
one more timid ajid credulous than myself, have 
been a source of disquietude ; but I heard the 
tale of 

" Horrid apparition, tall and ghastly, 
♦« That walks at dead of night," 

with perfect indifference. Not being able to 
finish my business till after the sabbath, my next 
consideration was, where I should pass that day, 
and I at length determined to go to Southampton, 



LETTERS. 



K 1S7 



thinking it probable the gospel was preached 
there. Once, all days were alike to me, and who 
but the Lord has caused me, now, to know a differ 
ence I " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that 
is within me bless his holy name !" Early on the 
sabbath morn, I set out on my itinerant expedi- 
tion: I had to make my way through slippery 
lanes and cross country roads; a vast extent of 
country was around me, but I had not an indi- 
vidual to speak to: I seemed separated from all 
I loved, and banished (for aught I knew) from the 
Lord's house and people, on that day, on the 
return of which, I had so often experienced a 
foretaste of heaven below: like captive Israel, I 
was in a strange land, and my harp was .upon the 
willows. I knew if I had accepted an invitation 
which had been given me by a gentleman in the 
neighbourhood, I should have passed the day with 
those, who (though hospitable and friendly) pos- 
sessed not the one tiling needful, to render their so- 
ciety agreeable to me. I pursued my course, and hav- 
ing got into the turnpike road, my fear of losing my 
way, entirely vanished. I saw many pleasant paths 
on the right hand and on the left, but I knew 7 not 
whither they went, I remembered how Christian 
and Faithful were once ensnared by leaving the 
King's highway for u bye-path meadow I 
thought it better, therefore, to keep the direct road. 
Occasionally the sun shone, then again it^was over- 
cast \ just like the Christian's experience, 



" ±scnv a glimpse of hope appears, 
" Then 'tis lost, in doubts and fears." 



138 



LETTEBS. 



The country through which I passed was exceed- 
ingly beautiful ; and, as I approached Southampton, 
the distant view of the sea, formed a grand and 
noble feature in the landscape. Had I been in- 
clined to have loitered, there were many attractions, 
but I should then have been too late, for the re- 
freshing ordinances of God's house. Thus Satan, 
in the Christian's pilgrimage, presents him with 
many a pleasant object to retard his progress: he 
shews him, as he did the Saviour, the glories of the 
kingdoms of this world, and many things that are 
pleasant to the eye, but he is not to be allured 
by their fascinations, for he is travelling towards 
a better home. I entered the beautiful and par- 
ticularly neat town of Southampton, a little after 
ten : on enquiring for a place of worship, I was 
directed to Mr. Ks meeting. The service was 
conducted in a solemn and profitable manner: 
I trust I felt grateful to my Lord for once more 
bringing me to his house and among his people. 
I was much pleased at beholding the Rev. Mr. N. 
of London, one of the congregation, and I after- 
wards learnt ( much to my satisfaction) that he was 
expected to preach in the evening at the house of 
a Mr. T. in the neighbourhood of Southampton. 
After the service I engaged in conversation with 
a stranger, who I soon discovered was a Christian 
brother; our hearts were speedily united : he 
very kindly invited me to speiid the day with him, 
which, from my want of serious acquaintance at 
Southampton, I readily accepted. I found him 
to be an Israelite indeed ; one, " given to hos- 
pitality :" Christ reigued in his heart, and his 



LETTERS. 



139 



conversation was consequently profitable and plea- 
sant: I leave you to judge how happy I was. 
After dinner, I went with another Christian friend 
to see the town and harbour, in our way to his 
meeting. We talked of the Lord's mercies to 
both of us : our hearts burned within us, and the 
time passed agreeably and imperceptibly away. O 
these are golden hours, and much to be prized, 
when the tongue and the heart are in unison, while 
uttering the memory of the Lord's goodness ! it is 
a theme that tills heaven with praise, and earth 
with joy. We arrived at a small neat chapel, 
and heard a plain faithful sermon from a Baptist 
minister: thus it was so ordered, that I was to 
hear an Independent in the morning, a Baptist 
in the afternoon, and a Churchman in the evening. 
Perhaps by some of each party, I should have 
been deemed irregular, but I love good men 
wherever I find them; and I care not whether 
the preachers are of Cephas, of Paul, or of 
Apollos, so long as they preach the unsearchable 
riches of Christ. My new friends would have 
accompanied me to hear Mr. N. but I discovered 
they had rather a partiality for their own minister, 
and therefore I did not press it. Christians may 
lawfully be allowed to have their favourite pastors, 
so long as they love them for the Saviour's sake. 
After a very pleasant walk, in which I could truly 
say, my meditation of Christ was sweet, I arrived 

at Mr. T 's, in time for the evening service. 

I found here a goodly company assembled, chiefly 
of young people, who seemed to hear Mr. N . with 
much attention and delight. Thus, instead of being 



140 



LETTERS. 



cut off from the means of grace, by the Lord's 
good hand upon me, I was led to his banqueting 
house, and found his banner over me still to be 
love. I joined ten or twelve young people who 
were returning to Southampton ; they were full 
of love and zeal to the Saviour, and their conver- 
sation was u to the use of edifying." The moon 
shone bright, the evening was perfectly serene, 
and we had a delightful walk through the 
com fields, talking of the goodness of the Lord 
towards us, all the way. My companions re- 
joiced much at hearing that there were so many 
excellent ministers in London, and so many young 
people that loved the gospel : they longed to be 
acquainted with them, and expressed sentiments 
of the liveliest affection for them. On my arrival 
at Southampton, I took a walk to view the sea by 
moonlight, with a youth, whose face seemed set 
toward Zion ; when we were obliged to part, it 
was with mutual reluctance. My friendly host 
took a most affectionate, and I may say, a parental 
leave of me ; while my mind could not but retain 
u deep sense of the kindness he had shewn the 
itinerant stranger. Early the next morning I re- 
turned by one of the Southampton coaches, and 
arrived safe at my place of destination, highly 
pleased with my excursion. Nothing particular 
occurred during the residue of my journey. At 
Winchester I visited the Cathedral, it is a 
most beautiful structure, and if statuary and 
chaunting could make converts, there would not 
be a few at this place. I viewed also the college, 
and likewise a delightful place where some alms- 



LETTERS. 



141 



houses are established, and where there is a very 
ancient and curious chapel, called St. Cross, a short 
distance from Winchester. Here they have a sin- 
gular custom of giving bread and beer to tra- 
vellers, &c. Like other tourists, having begun, I 
know not where to leave off, but least I should 
quite exhaust your patience, I will now conclude, 
assuring you how much I am, &c. 



LETTER II. S. D. 

Fbee grace will not produce free living, till it 
can be made out that Christ is the minister of 
sin; and that is blasphemy. We know that he 
came to destroy, not to uphold " the works of 
the devil;" he will pull down " the strong holds 
of Satan," in all his people's hearts, and they shall 
no more be in " the bondage of corruption," 
but be admitted to " the glorious liberty of the 
Sons of God." I can say in the presence of 
God, who searches the heart, and is acquainted 
with all the secret desires of my soul, that no- 
thing is so great a burden to me as sin ; and that 
so far from loving it, I hate it with " perfect 
hatred :" yet I feel it working in me, but blessed 
be God, a principle of his own imparting, is op- 
posing it from day to day : thus my soul resembles 
a field of battle, where two powerful armies are 
engaged in almost continual conflict with each 
other, but, ere long, I trust, victory, everlasting 
victory, will be proclaimed " through the blood of 



142 



LETTERS* 



the Lamb." It is my continual supplication, that 
my soul may be made alive to God, and be 
more cleansed from its native impurity. It is 
only when I experience the sanctifying influences 
of his Spirit, that I am happy, and can form any 
idea of the felicity of heaven ; for heaven would 
be no heaven to me, did I not believe it to be 
a place of perfect holiness ; nor could I be happy, 
even in the presence of Christ himself, dearly as I 
love him, if evil still was present with me : but, 
blessed be his name, " he has not called us to sin 
and to uncleanness, but unto holiness ; and it is a 
libel upon truth to suppose, that those who have 
" tasted that the Lord is gracious," can any longer 
" continue in sin." Can we take to our bosom, 
with the same delight, the dove and the viper? 
surely not : so, when Christ enters his temple, the 
buyers and sellers will be driven out. Dagon and 
the Ark cannot be reverenced by the same person, 
for the lip of truth has said, " Ye cannot serve 
God and Mammon." May our love to the Sa- 
viour abound yet more and more ; " kept by the 
power of God," may we glorify him " with our 
bodies and our spirits, which are his!" may we 
prove " whose we are, and whom we serve," by 
devotedness of spirit, and consistency of walk and 
conversation; may we live down the prejudice 
and false charges of those, who judge uncharitably 
of our principles : and may we prove, that while 
our eternal hopes are grounded upon the free un- 
merited favour of God in Christ Jesus, we are 
yet " careful to maintain good works ;" not as the 
ground of our acceptance with God, but as the 



LETTERS. 



143 



evidence, that God's Spirit dwells within us. 
Thus we shall prove that the religion of the 
Saviour, promotes vital godliness, and that the 
love of God, shed abroad in the heart, is the best 
stimulus to good works. 

" Talk they of morals! O, thou bleeding Lamb, 
" The grand morality, is love of thee V 

You NO* 

While we are willing to enter the portals of 
heaven with a Saul, a Magdalen, a Manasseh, 
we are not desirous of being either persecutors, 
harlots, or murderers ; we wish to follow them, 
only so far, as they followed Christ, " in the 
regeneration." May the Lord be with your 
Spirit ! may he keep you " faithful unto death/' 
and in his own good time, give you " a crown 
of life !" may you find all your happiness in his 
love, all your heaven in his smile ] and may you 
u so pass through things temporal, as not to lose 
the things which are eternal " 



LETTER III.— S.W. 

Perhaps, by some, it might be deemed 
unlawful, (and yet why should it f) to write a few 
lines to a Christian friend on the evening of the 
Sabbath, at the happy moment when I have 
had a visit from my dear Lord, and have been 



144 



LETTERS. 



triumphing in fresh assurances of his unchanging 
love. I have been enabled truly to say, 

u Blest Jesus, what delicious fare! 

41 How sweet thine entertainments are!" 

I have been made thoroughly happy : I went to 
prayer with a heart as cold and as hard as 
ice itself, but, suddenly, the frost gave way ; 
the Lord, at whose presence the mountains 
flow, drew near, and I felt, in communion with 
him, 

" Joys which earth cannot afford :* 

an anticipation of the blessedness of those, who 
being eternally set free from sin and sorrow, are 
singing unceasing hallelujahs around the throne. 
" Bless the Lord, Q my soul ! and forget not 
all his benefits !" How mean, how infinitely be- 
neath my esteem, is the monarch's crown, or all 
that wealth or fame can bestow, when put in 
competition with the joys I have just now been 
experiencing ! perhaps, some might call this en- 
thusiasm, but it is so delightful, so heavenly a 
sensation, that I would, were it possible, enjoy it 
every moment of my existence. O for greater love 
and devotedness to Jesus ! We want no other 
happiness than his favour ; no other honour, than 
to be his disciples. I have written these few 
lines, because my darkest seasons shall not al- 
ways be the time that I address my friend. 
When through grace I am enabled to take my 



LETTERS. 



145 



harp from off the willows, and to sing the Lord's 
song, I desire and always pray that those I love^ 
may join with me in chorus. 



LETTER IV. S. W. 

Escaped from the bustle of a Babel world, 
where vanity and folly seem to hold their per- 
petual reigaj in whose very touch is pollution ; 
and in whose, favour, is death ; I seize with plea- 
sure the tranquil hour of retirement, to address 
my friend on subjects, in which, (blessed be God) 
we feel a mutual interest. O, hcfw much rea- 
son have we to praise the Lord for his daily 
care of us, and how much cause have we to 
make him our hiding place, seeing, we are en- 
compassed about with so many, that are at- 
tempting, and would rejoice in our destruction. 
We are not only in an enemy's land, *and ex- 
posed to his continual attacks, but w r e have also 
secret foes within, that would quickly overcome 
us, were it not for the daily supplies of grace 
and strength we receive from him, who filleth 
all in all. Indeed, my friend, the more I dis- 
cover of the corruption of my own heart, the 
more I am led to adore, and to be astonished at 
"the matchless goodness of mv Lord, in setting 
his love upon me. I am sensible of so much 
lukewarmness of affection towards him, that I 
should fear the loss of his favour, if in his 
blessed word it was not written, " I will make 

o 



146 



"LETTERS. 



an everlasting covenant with them, that I will 
not turn away from them, to do them good : but 
I will put my fear into their hearts, that they 
shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice 
over them, to do them good assuredly, with my 
whole heart, and with my whole soul/ 7 Blessed 
words ! precious promises ! how expressive of 
the good- v* ill of our God ! how suitable to your 
ease and mine ! What do I gather from them ? 
that I am not my own ; that 1 am bought with 
a price : and shall I not then glorify God, a with 
my body, and my Spirit, which are his r" espe-* 
cially, as I am not kept by my own strength, 
which I daily find to be perfect weakness, but 
by " the power of God." What a safeguard 
is this ! Oh, if grace was always in exercise, 
how would the promises of God's word regale 
and delight us ! we, should possess within our- 
selves a source of felicity, ever satisfying and 
never cloying. If Christ will never leave us. nor 
forsake us, why should we despond ? If he is 
for us, who can be against us ? Xo sooner, 
you know, did Christian and Faithful find the 
key of promise, than they immediately effected 
their escape from Doubting Castle ; and, in like 
manner, we shall break down the strongest holds 
of unbelief, if we rely upon the nchangeable 
love, of our unchanging God. W hat incon- 
sistency would mark our conduct, if after a friend 
had not only promised, but iei eatedlv afforded 
us, his assistance, and that toe, in times of the 
greatest need, we should distrust bis regard, and 
imagine, that he would henceforward be our 



"LETTERS* 



147 



enemy, upon what rational principle could we 
cherish the idea ? How ungenerous would be 
the suspicion ! how ungrateful ! how unjust ! 
and if we should not be warranted in thinking 
thus of a frail fellow-mortal, ought we to en- 
tertain such an ignoble suspicion of God ? The 
merchant frequently receives from the trader, a 
promissory note, for the article he vends him ; 
he takes it as cash, upon the faith, that at the 
appointed time it will be duly honoured ; but 
the Christian, such is his frailly and unbelief, 
gives not equal credit to his God, though he 
reads in his bible, that " faithful is he that hath 
promised, who also will do it and though he 
has abundant experience of the. truth of the as- 
sertion. O, let us take shame to ourselves that 
ever we should encourage such unwarrantable 
fears, for they are the emissaries of Satan, and 
we shall dearly pay for it, if we admit them 
to our confidence. Our trials and crosses, how- 
ever heavy they may now be, will, ere long, like 
Pharaoh's host, be drowned, not indeed in tire 
Red Sea, .but in the unfathomable ocean of 
Jesu's love : " we shall see our enemies no more 
for ever." We shall be separated from an un- 
godly world, from a body of sin and death, and 
.made free from all filthine.ss of flesh and spirit, 
we shall " perfect holiness in the fear of the 
Lord :" our prayers will be turned to praises, 
our sighing to singing, our sorrow to Joy. We 
shall hear no more the blasphemies of men, 
but the. hallelujahs of Angels : " instead of the 
thorn, shall come up the fir tree, and instead 



148 



LETTEKS* 



of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree 

the cross will be exchanged for the crown, and 
the valley of weeping, for the kingdom of glory. 
Oh, what a happy period will that be ! our sun 
will " no more go down," the days of our mourn- 
ing will be ended, and our felicity will be in- 
creased for ever and ever. Oh, it is a thought 
too great for a finite mind to grasp, but not 
too great for God to fulfil, " for he is able to 
do exceeding abundantly above all that we can 
ask, and above all that we can think/' 



LETTER V.— S,W, 

While we are in an enemy's land, we cannot 
for any length of time expect a cessation of 
hostilities; as in nature, there are the revolving 
periods of summer and winter, day and night : 
as the traveller meets with hills and plains, with 
showers and sunshine ; so we should expect 
bitters as well as sweets, and pain as well as 
pleasure, in our progress through life. In our 
families, our circumstances, our souls, in one 
way or the other, we shall be sure to find the 
Canaanite is yet in the land. Though many 
may be destroyed, others will spring up, as hem- 
lock in the field : and the events of every day, 
will more or less inform us, that this is not our 
rest, it is polluted. Happy are they, and they 
only, who have fled for refuge to the ark of 
God's own providing. In prosperity we are too 



LETTERS. 



149* 



apt to forget God, but in adversity we seek him. 
The sighings after an absent God, heighten the 
joys of his presence ; and his arm made bare in 
our deliverance from great difficulties, cause us 
to inscribe our Ehenezer, not upon the Sand, 
but upon the Rock. But for these changes, and 
we should be considering the present state, our 
home, instead of seeking after " a better country." 
The plains of Sodom would be our abode, and 
the lot of Sodom be our portion : but the Lord 
designs better things for us, " even things that 
accompany salvation." He plants, therefore, 
thorns in our nest ; he causes our choicest com- 
forts to wither like Jonah's gourd in a night, 
and by these trying dispensations, he is saying 
unto us, " My son, give me thine heart." Let 
us in dark seasons trust in the covenant mercies 
of our God, and relying upon the never-failing 
promises of his word, under every afflictive dis- 
pensation, say with Luther, " it is a little cloud, 
and will soon blow over/' I wish you, my dear 
friend, a very happy Christmas ; may the blessed 
Jesus himself, " bring you good tidings of great 
joy !" may he give you (in some token of his 
love,) a new year's' gift ! may you dedicate and 
give yourself up to him, " body, soul, and spirit;" 
and be sealed by his Spirit " unto the day of 
redemption !" While the erring multitude are 
abusing this sacred festival by rioting and drunken- 
ness, by reveliings and banquettings, by gluttony 
and excess of riot : may we through grace a put 
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and not make provision 
for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof!" May 
o 2 



350 



LETTERS. 



our dwellings resound, not with vain songs 
to Bacchus and Venus, but with the praises of 
Jesus. It is our privilege to " come out from 
among them, .to be separate, and not to touch the 
unclean thing/' and the Lord has promised to 
receive us, to be a Father unto us, and to confer 
upon us the honourable title of sons and daughters 
of the Lord Almighty. I have just received your 
favour ; remember, " they that sow in tears shall 
reap in joy it is not our portion here, always 
to walk in sunshine ; nor is it summer with us 
all the year round, but do not forget that delightful 
promise, " The mountains shall depart and the 
hills be removed, but my kindness, shall not de- 
part from thee, neither shall the covenant of my 
peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy 
on thee." Comfortable words ! may you ex- 
perience all their consolation ! The trees of the 
garden are you know at this season of the year 
bereft of their foliage and blossoms, but you doubt 
not they will again be clothed in verdure and 
bear fruit : because there is life still in their root. 
We have had frosty weather lately, but the sun 
has again appeared, and the ice, that was im- 
penetrable as marble, has dissolved. Apply 
these similitudes to your case, and do not despair ; 
and should it yet continue winter in your ex- 
perience, do not forget what Mr. Hart says in 
one of his hymns, — 

" Poor sinners, dejected, of comfort debarr'd, 

u Whose hearts are affected, because they're so hard ; 

" Despairing of favour, cold, lifeless, forlorn, 

" Remember — the Saviour, — in winter was born," 



* 



LETTERS, 



151 



LETTER VI. S.W. 

The bereavement of friends is undoubtedly 
very distressing, and that of a parent particularly 
so ; but the Christian sorrows not as those who 
have no hope, for he believes that " them that 
sleep in Jesus will God bring with him;" Hence, 
he regards all his trials, as love tokens, from his 
heavenly Father ; and while the involuntary tear 
trickles down his cheek, he justifies the dealings 
of God with him in his judgment, and in all his 
dispensations he says, with meek submission and 
holy resignation, " Thy will be done.' 7 A con- 
sciousness of his own frailty convinces him, there 
is abundant cause for the chastisement he receives, 
and under the most trying providences he is com- 
pelled to say, 

" Thy strokes are fewer than my crimes, 
" And lighter than my guilt." 

And what is the issue ? he turns from the crea- 
ture, to the Creator : from the stream, to the 
fountain : from the withered gourd, to u the sha- 
dow of the Almighty." He says with Ephraim, 
" What have I to do any more with idols r" and 
he is found at the feet of Jesus : his afflictions 
therefore are " blessings in disguise." Have we 
experienced recent bereavements, and do we, like 
Jacob, " refuse to be comforted r" Ah, let us 
beware of indulging a murmuring spirit, least w e 
should thereby run against the thick bosses of 
God's buckler, and "pierce ourselves through with 



152 



LETTERS. 



many sorrows." Let us rather refer every event 
to bis sovereign will, who corrects, only to exalt, 
and who has given us his assurance, that " all- 
things work together for our good." To indulge 
excess of grief for those, of whose salvation we 
have not a doubt, betrays a principle of self-love, 
discreditable to the Christian ; for what is its 
language ? I would call my relative or friend, 
from a state of perfect felicity, to one that is 
replete with vicissitude and disappointment : I 
would call him from the presence and enjoyment 
of God, to be the companion of a creature : nay 
more, to be a participator of his afflictions and 
sorrows. Might he not justly say, " Is this thy 
kindness to thy friend r" David exhibited a nobler 
conduct upon the death of his child, " Where- 
fore (said he) should I fast ? can I bring him back 
again ? I shall go to him, but he shall not return 
to me !" David had no doubt of the salvation 
of infants ; hence, while as a parent he lamented 
the death of his child, as a Christian, he rejoiced, 
that his babe was gone to that Saviour, who, for 
the comfort of bereaved parents, has expressly 
said, " Suffer little children to come unto me, 
and forbid them not ; for of such is the kingdom 
of heaven." 

" Death may the bands of life dissolve, 

" But can't dissolve my love; 
" Millions of infant souls compose, 

" The family above." 

I know that there are some who entertain dif- 
ferent sentiments upon this subject, but I envy 
them not their feelings, nor their divinity. May 



<^ LETTERS. 153 

we, under all the losses and crosses we are subject 
to, be resigned, and given up, to the will of our 
heavenly Father : and may every removal of tem- 
poral blessings, urge us more ardently to " set 
our affections upon things above," and more 
earnestly to long for that period, when (through 
grace) we shall join " the general assembly and 
church of the first born." 

LETTER VII. S.W. 

We are sometimes led to believe that no one 
has passed through our chequered experience ; 
the rapid succession of joy and sorrow, hope and 
despair, light and darkness, love and indifference, 
contrition and impenitence, peace and anxiety, 
holy and sinful thoughts, which alternately possess 
our souls, cause us frequently to suspect, that 
we cannot be the subjects of that faith which 
belongs to God's elect. We look upon other 
Christians with admiration, we apprehend, they 
only have " joy and peace in believing ;" from 
fheir external consistency of walk, and their ap- 
parent attachment to the Saviour, we are led to think 
they are privileged, with the beloved disciple, to 
lay always upon the bosom of Jesus, and to share 
his constant smile, while we are admitted to only 
temporary visits of his love, and to the occasional 
enjoyment of his favour; — but this is our hifivmity, 
"the heart knows its own bitterness," and could 
we enter into the real experience of the characters 



154 



LETTERS. 



we so much envy, we should find in them, con- 
flicts as strong, doubts as many, evidences of grace 
as few, as those which we at times possess. 
Christians cannot relate to each other all they feel, 
much, very much, is known only to God, and 
to their own souls : What a mercy then it is, to 
have " a high priest that is touched with the feel- 
ing of our infirmities, having been, in all points, 
tempted like as we are, yet without sin." We 
are slill upon the ocean, and must therefore ex- 
pect many a storm : Let us be thankful if we 
are bound for the haven of eternal rest, and if 
our sails are filled even by tempestuous winds, 
and we are thereby driven nearer home, let us 
not repine. We are hastening, O my friend, to 
the period when death will put an end to all our 
trials : other persons will be the occupiers of our 
dwellings, and other worshippers will fill our sta- 
tions in the world, and in the church : death will 
destroy the pleasures of the domestic circle ; 
and the place that now knows us, will know us 
no more for ever. We have important events 
before us ! a death bed ! a judgment bar ! an 
eternal world ! We shall have to grapple with the 
last enemy alone, and to receive from him that 
blow, that will sever us from all we love upon 
earth ; and that will introduce us to an untried 
state of existence. May we keep these solemn 
events in view, and (recollect the motto I men- 
tioned in a former letter) " so live, that we may 
always live." 



1ETTERS. 



155 



LETTER VIU.- S. W. 

Well do you observe, in your last favour, 
that communion with our friends is sweet, but that 
fcornmunion with God, is sweeter still. In- 
deed it is ; and blessed be his name, there are 
moments in which we can say, " truly our fellow- 
ship is with God the Father, and with his Son 
Jesus Christ." The soul at such seasons, feels its 
dignity, its immortality, its glory : it then begins 
to live, and to have a taste of real joy. We 
envy not, at such times, an angel his felicity : 
our hearts overflow with rapture, and we possess 
a joy which is unspeakable and full of glory/' 
W as but the worldling acquainted with the solid, the 
satisfying pleasures of the Christian, he would no 
longer be surprised at his preferring solitude to 
the noisy throng, nor at his voluntary resigning all 
the vain amusements of the world around him. 

* On wings of faith then upwards borne, 
rt Downward he looks, with holy scorn; 

*' The p ins and pleasures of this life, 
M Aifurd him, neither joy, nor grief. 

While he enjoys this blissful si^ht, 

* His heart o'erwhelfla'a with sweet delight; 
" He longs to reach the heavenly shore, 

" And see this evil world no more. 

u Here (says the transported soul) would I abide 
still f 7 hut it is not permitted : the continuance of 
such enjoyments would incapacitate us for those 
duties that we still owe to society, our families, 
and the world. Gh, after some of those blessed 



156 



LETTERS. 



Seasons, with what reluctance have we again gone 
into the world! how indifferent hare we been to 
its concerns ! how dead to its pleasures and .pur- 
suits ! no doubt the three disciples descended from 
the mount of transfiguration, after the auspicious 
sight which they had beheld, with sentiments of 
regret; they would willingly have taken up their 
abode there ; but it was needful for them again 
to visit the haunts of men: they had stations to 
fill, work to do, souls to convert, trials to en- 
dure, conflicts to meet with. And much remains 
to be done in us, and it may be, by us, ere we are 
to exchange the wilderness for Eden, and the cross 
for the crown ! Let us then, cultivate a close walk 
with God; he never fails us: in his fulness, is a 
constant, an inexhaustible supply. Springs of 
earthly comfort are often dried up, but the 
u streams that make glad the city of God," are 
always flowing: and yet how prone are we to re- 
pair to the broken cistern, and to seek in human 
aid, the happiness that is to be found alone in God! 
u Human attachments (said the Rev. Mr. B. lately, 
when preaching on the love of Christ) are of a 
very uncertain tenure, for fickleness is the charac- 
teristic of man : the friend that loves me to-day, 
may hate me to-morrow : and such connections, 
at the best are transient: all around us is changing, 
but in God, " there is no Variableness/' nor even 
"the shadow of a turn:" his love is everlasting, 
his friendship is subject to no casually. It is not 
ho in our earthly connections ; the children that 
now like olive branches, surround your table, may 
be snatched away by death, ere another week is 



LETTERS. 



157 



past ; the wife of your bosom, the desire of your 
eyes, may suddenly be " cut off with a stroke." 
The shop that is open to-day, may be shut up to- 
morrow : its owner may have been summoned in 
a moment, to the tribunal of the Almighty, and 
no longer have commerce with men. All around 
us is transitory, and it is dangerous, very dangerous, 
to set your affections on any object here below ; 
yea, even upon the dear people of God them- 
selves, for they are not yet perfect; they are of 
like passions with yourselves, and from a variety 
of causes, are likely to disappoint your expecta- 
tions, and to ill requite your love : I reserve, there- 
fore, (said he) my more especial friendship even 
for them, to the morning of resurrection, because 
then my affections cannot be misplaced, I shall 
-see them as they really are, and they will be inca- 
pable of a change." 



LETTER IX. — -S.W. 

At the moment of writing this, I am at the 

house of a gentleman, at , who is no more 

an inhabitant of this lower world. His villa and 
grounds are finished and laid out in the most cap- 
tivating style of elegance and simplicity: nature 
and art seem to have done their utmost, in lavish- 
ing their united charms on this delightful spot. 
The beautifully picturesque scenery around, may, 
to a mortal eye, give no faint shadow of that bliss- 
fid seat, where grew 



153 



LETTERS. 



" The fruit of that forbidden tree, 
" Whose mortal taste, brought death into the world, 
*' And all our woe. 

MlLTON 

But the wealthy possessor of this terrestrial Eden 
has been called away, and a hatchment on the 
mansion, in silence, whispers to the enamoured 
spectator, " This is not your rest." While I be- 
hold this captivating scene, I see the silken snare, 
and think how easily the heart, not in love with 
better objects, might here be bound to earth, but 
the Christian adopts the sentiment of the poet, and 
says with him, 

" He builds too low, who builds 
V Beneath the skies." 

Young. 

A sigh escapes me, while I view the deserted man- 
sion : my imagination leads me from the sur- 
rounding beauties of the place, to contemplate its 
late envied possessor. Alas ! how abject his per- 
son ! how abased his greatness ! He no more 
says to one " Come, and he cometh," or to an- 
other, " do this, and he doeth it the silent 
chambers of the grave have received him, and the 
vaulted cavern echoes, 

" How loved, how valued once, avails thee not, 

" To whom relate d, or by whom begot, 

" A heap of dust, alone remains of thee, 

f< 'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shnll be,*' 

The servants, except a few, are discharged, and 
the sable dress of the remainder, writes vanity 
on all terrestrial joy. The pictures that grati- 



I^ETTEHS. 



139 



fied the eye, the musical instruments that charmed 
the leisure hour, the library that improved the 
understanding, and imited pleasure with profit, 
are no more resorted to, by their late possessor, 
but are about to be transferred to other owners. 
The beautiful shrubbery, that was wont to allure 
his footsteps from the meridian sun ; the floweret 
that caught his attention, and the plants, that, 
fanned by the refreshing breeze, emitted the richest 
perfumes, contribute no longer to his happiness. 
The ground whereon he walked, knows him no 
more ; and the boundaries of his estate, once, un- 
explored by the naked eye, are now reduced from 
acres to feet, and but a very few of them suffice, 
to make up the aggregate of his present domain, 
Pardon me for dwelling so long upon this subject, 
Imt my eye affects my heart, and every thing 
around me, teaches me the instability of earthly 
happiness. May its precarious tenure stimulate 
us to seek more ardently that inheritance, which 
is " incorruptible, undenled, and fadeth not away." 
This is the anniversary of my birth ; in the period I 
have sojourned in this lower world, how small a por- 
tion of my time has been given to the service of my 
God! how much to vanity and folly! Oh, that 
henceforth I may begin to live ! I desire to 
say to my too lethargic soul, as the ship-men did 
to Jonah, " What meanest thou, O sleeper ! arise ! 
call upon thy God !" and what a mercy it is, that I 
am still permitted to call upon him ! How many 
now slumber in their graves, awaiting the trum- 
pet's sound to judgment, who would give the 
Indies, did they possess them, to have the privilege 



160 



LETTERS. 



I am still enjoying. The dying and the dead, 
are speaking to our adamantine hearts; relatives 
and friends, removed by the stroke of death, are 
calling upon us in pity and in love, to attend to 
soul concerns • and, Oh, how great the obduracy 
of our hearts, to refuse to listen to their kind 
admonitions ! What is their language ? " Seek 
ye the Lord while he may be found ! call ye 
upon him, while he is near !" for " now is the 
accepted time ! now is the day of salvation !" O 
Lord, make it so to us, and save us from our- 
selves, from sin, from Satan, from the world, till 
in Zion we shall appear the monuments of thy 
- .grace, and shall shout salvation to God and the 
Lamb for ever and ever. 



LETTER X. S.W. 

Thebe seems a propensity in . the human 
mind to indulge sorrow, upon the dismissal of 
much loved relatives from this vale of tears ; 

" Busy meddling memory, 
" In barbarous succession musters up, 
" The past endearments of each tender hour.* 

Blair. 

and the thought is wormwood in the cup of pre- 
sent enjoyment. It is, however, a consolatory 
reflection to the Christian, that, while in common 
with others, he is liable to the loss of his choicest 
earthly comforts, he has still a friend left, that 



LETTERS. 



161 



u sticketh closer than a brother :" a friend that 
not only " loveth at all times/' but who has " pro- 
mised never to leave, never to forsake him." 
While the prospect around us, is transient and 
deceitful, we should rejoice that we are hastening 
to a world, where, with an exemption from all 
the contingencies that here so often mar our feli- 
city, we shall also be delivered from a body of 
sin and death. Contrasted with the glory that 
will then be our portion, our present trials are but 
as u the light afflictions of a moment." We are 
advancing to a state of perfect harmony and love ; 
to a state, where Christ reigns in every heart*^ 
" from the least unto the greatest :" where we 
shall behold an innumerable tribe of infants, as 
" first fruits unto God and to the Lamb/' casting 
their never-fading crowns of amaranth at his feet, 
who washed them from original sin in his blood, 
and early called them away from a world of 
wickedness and woe. A crowd of youths and 
maidens, kept, by the power of God, from innu- 
merable dangers, shall next pay grateful adoration ; 
and these shall be succeeded by a host of Chris- 
tian veterans, who " brought off more than con- 
querors," shall for ever shout, Victory, Victory, 
through the blood of the Lamb ! I will only add, 
by way of conclusion, the homely, yet animated 
description of that blissful period, as given by the 
late Mr. Ryland, of Northampton : — 

" What singing! what shouting! what heavenly greeting ! 
" Shall there be, at that general, triumphant, church meeting. 
u Nor illness, nor business, nor length of the way, 
" Shall keep, from that meeting, one brother away. 



162 



LETTERS* 



" Temptations, and trials, no more shall be known* 
" Nor Satan, nor sin, shall e'er cause us to groan. 

* Each shall tell his sweet story, nor need he be shorf, 
It will never be night, there'll be time enough for't, 

* Each strange dispensation, will be then understood, 
" And we shall see clearly, all wrought for our good, 
*' May the foresight of glory constrain you and me, 

H To consider what persons we ought now to be ! 

* To pray for your brother, my dear friend, fail not, 
" For, alas! you can't think what a heart I have got! 
*' So stubborn ! so stupid ! so carnal ! so cold ! 

*' One half of its wickedness, cannot be told. 

M But, Lord ! thou dost know it ; thou only canst bend it : 

" Oh, seaicb it ! and break it ! and wash it ! and mend it i y 



LETTER XI. Mr. W. 

As salvation is God's free gift, and has no re- 
ference whatever to any previous qualification in 
us, we are neglecting our own mercies, while we 
are making our unworthiness a barrier to his love. 
Perhaps we have but little faith ; — well, let us 
bless God, that we have any ; and let us take it 
as an earnest, that we shall have more. Behold 
the tenderness of our Lord, " a bruised reed will 
he not break, and smoaking flax will he not 
quench/' If we have but a desire to love him, it 
is worth a thousand worlds : it is an evidence 
of present, and it is a presage of future good ; 
for it is not the desire of the heart by nature : 
and recollect, for your encouragement, that it 
is not the measure of faith, but the existence 
of it, that constitutes us believers. The Lord 
has babes as well as young men in his family ; 



LETTERS. 



163 



Iambs as well as sheep in his fold ; saplings as 
well as cedars in his Lebanon. Although strong 
faith undoubtedly brings " glory to God," and 
comfort to ourselves, yet little faith shall as- 
suredly, (though perhaps with much trembling,) 
enter the portals of heaven. Although strong faith 
can say, " I know in whom I have believed ;" yet 
little faith may, (with Magdalen,) bathe the Sa- 
viour's feet with her tears, and may receive from 
the lip of truth the applauding sentence, 66 she 
hath done what she could." Be encouraged then, 
to persevere in Zion's paths : be diligent in 
prayer ; " they that wait upon the Lord, shall re- 
new their strength." " What man is there of 
you, (said Christ) whom if his son ask bread, will 
he give him a stone r or if he ask a fish, will he 
give him a serpent : if ye then, being evil, know 
how to give good gifts unto your children, how 
much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, 
give good things to them that ask him." Without 
multiplying passages upon this subject, with which 
the scriptures abound, the following may suffice : 
" If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, 
that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth 
not, and it shall be given to him :" and again, 
" In every thing by prayer and supplication, with 
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known 
unto God." May you, in the most ample manner, 
experience the advantages and pleasures of prayer, 
you will find it will produce a peace which 
" passeth all understanding," and a joy, which is 
" unspeakable and full of glory." That you may 
" follow on to know the Lord, and be kept by 



164 



LETTERS. 



the power of God, through faith unto salvation," 
is my sincere wish and earnest prayer. 



LETTER XII. S.W. 

As keeping good company tends to polish the 
manners, so I believe, in a spiritual point of view, 
nothing is better calculated to counteract the in- 
herent depravity of our nature, than communion 
with the Lord. We cannot be much with God 
without getting good ; nor much w ith the w 7 orid 
without partaking of its evil. If we want hea- 
venly wisdom, it is to be obtained only at the 
feet of Jesus : if we would have clean garments, 
we must " keep ourselves unspotted from the 
world." If we would be holy in our conduct, 
we must not only choose Zion's path for our road, 
but Zion's Lord also, for our guide. You com- 
plain of a succession of trials ; — you are not alone 
in them ; I find each day brings with it, its temp- 
tations and troubles, and by them I am reminded, 
that this is not my rest. But afflictions, to God's 
people, are love tokens ; evidences of adoption 
into his family ; and I verily believe, that medicine 
is not more needful for the body, than afflictions 
are for the soul : both, though nauseous in them- 
selves, are salutary in their effects. The man 
whose grounds " brought forth plentifully," was 
" not rich towards God," but a sinking Peter, 
placed his whole dependance upon him. Is it 
not then better to be in deep water with Peter, 



LETTERS. 



165 



than to possess the prosperity of the worldling 
who forgot God ? The rich young man, notwith- 
standing his profession of attachment to the Saviour, 
" went away sorrowful/' when he was required to 
give up all 5 " for he had great possessions 
whereas, a persecuted apostle, " gladly suffered the 
loss of all things, to win Christ, and to be found in 
him/' " How hardly shall they that have riches 
enter into the kingdom of God !" It is difficult 
to hold a full cup even. May we have with our 
portion, " the blessing of the Lord/' which alone 
maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow ! What I 
have said, I trust is sufficient to shew you, that 
there is a needs be, for every trial you may be 
subject to : " affliction cometh not forth of the 
dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the 
ground," it is all sent with a gracious design ; 
and we know not our mercies, if we do not 
reckon our crosses and disappointments, among 
the choicest of our blessings : the lesson is hard 
to flesh and blood, but faith and grace will attain 
it. May you profit by every dispensation, and 
thus extract sweets out of bitters, and honey out 
<Vf the carcase of the lion. 



LETTER XIII. H. S. 

I suppose you think that " out of sight, out 
of mind;" but absence lessons not true friend- 
ship. The imagination often travels to distant 
scenes, and it soon has in its view, those, who 



166 



LETTERS. 



are dear to his affections. Friendship, when it 
soars not to the reveries of the poet, nor is con- 
fined to the inanimate feelings of the stoic, is a 
blessing to mankind. When, in all the un- 
reserved confidence of mutual esteem, we com- 
municate to each other our ideas, and these 
ideas are the product of a well informed under- 
standing, the interchange is attended with much 
pleasure and profit. To constitute however 
reciprocal advantage, it is expedient that the topics 
selected, should be those of real worth : and as 
ail human connections are liable to be dissolved, 
not only through the fickleness and frailty of our 
nature, but also by death, a friend should not 
usurp the place of God in our affections. The 
dearest connections are but for a season; they 
must leave us, or we must leave them: if we 
suffer them, therefore, to possess the heart that 
should be given to God, we become idolaters, 
and unsuspectingly, involve ourselves in a snare. 
Friendship, nevertheless, kept within proper bounds, 
improves the mind, exalts the affections, and 
lessens the cares of life. May grace enable 
us rightly to appreciate, and duly to improve the 
blessings of social intercourse to God's glory. 
While writing upon this interesting subject, let 
me not forget to solicit your heart for that dear 
Saviour, who, " though he was rich, yet for our 
sakes became poor, that we, through his poverty, 
might be rich." Can any one have so great 
a claim upon your regard ? can any one make you 
so happy i or bestow upon you advantages so 
numerous ? In such a friend your confidence can- 



LETTERS. 



not be betrayed; and, unlike all human friend- 
ships, death, instead of dissolving the connection, 
will only render it the more permanent. Want 
you protection ? he has " all power in heaven and 
on earth." Want you wisdom ? " he giveth libe- 
rally, and upbraideth not." Want you happiness ? 
"in his presence there is fulness of joy, at his 
right hand are pleasures for evermore." W ant you 
a guide ? " In all thy ways acknowledge him, and 
he shall direct thy paths." Want you support? 
" the eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath 
are the everlasting arms." Let him be your choice 
now, and at the solemn hour of death, he will 
cause you to exclaim with triumph, u My flesh 
and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of 
my heart, and my portion for ever !" Oh, to have 
this experience ! how enviable ! how desirable ! 
that it may be yours, is the fervent prayer of 
your, &c. 



LETTER XIV'.— S.AV. 

m # # # # # # # * * * 4 # # 
# * There is a delicacy and purity in true 
Christianity, that extends its heavenly influence to 
the innermost recesses of the soul. Saving faith 
ever " purifies the heart ;" and though the Chris- 
tian feels that he is a sinner, and that he comes 
short of the glory of God/ 7 in all he does, 
yet he cannot be in league with his corruptions, 
or make his weakness a pretence for submitting 



168 



I/ETTERS. 



to their controul. He will struggle against them, 
he will attack them again and again, and the battle 
being the Lord's, in his strength he will overcome 
them. " There is a material difference (says our 
venerable pastor^') between rebels breaking into 
my house, and carousing there, against my will,—* 
and my opening my door to them, and inviting 
them in." So, while sin exists in the Christian, 
contrary to his inclination, and he longs and strug- 
gles to be delivered from its bondage; he ha& 
good evidence that the love of it is taken away, 
and that ere long, the very being of it shall 
be destroyed also. " As for me, (said the 
Psalmist) I will behold thy face in righteousness, 
I shall be satisfied, when I awake with thy like- 
ness;" this was his joy, and it w ill be the joy of 
the Christian also : he experiences no satisfaction, 
but as he feels a conformity to the mind and will 
of God. Oh, to bear more of the image of the 
heavenly! Cannot you say amen to this wish? I 
trust you can. Let us bless the Lord for giving 
us this desire, and pray to him for more of it, for 
if to be with Jesus, is heaven, to be like him, is 
to be at its threshold. 



LETTER XV. M. C. 

# # * * # p 

* # How full of mercy is oui* God ! how free, 
how general are his invitations ! how criminal 

• Rev. Rowland Hill. 



LETTERS. 



the conduct of those who turn a deaf ear to the 
voice of his Providence, and of his grace! may 
we resort to him at all times, knowing, that a w hat- 
soever things we ask in prayer, believing, we shall 
receive." Does sin lift up its hydra head ? Jesus 
will conquer it. Do gloomy doubts and fears 
arise? he will put to flight the c f army of aliens/' 
Is little love the cause of our grief ? he w ill shed 
this heavenly principle abroad in our heart ; and in 
the company of our beloved, the spark will soon 
kindle into a flame. Is worldly care the cause of 
our disquietude ? or has some bereaving pro- 
vidence cut off the desire of our eyes with a 
stroke? Are we with Rachel, weeping for our 
children, " because they are not or with David, 
lamenting the loss of some beloved Jonathan I 
Whatever is the source of our sorrow, it is our 
duty and our privilege, to cast every " burden 
upon the Lord/' Oh, how many benefits will 
accrue to us, from being able to say, in every- situ- 
ation, a Thy will be done." May you feel more 
longings after Christ every day! and in a rich 
experience of his love, may you enjoy much of 
heaven in your soul! After having done and 
suffered his will upon earth, may you have an 
" abundant entrance administered" to vou, into 
those regions of light and immortality, where 
sorrow and sighing will be done away, and 
where God himself will be your portion, your 
glory, and your exceeding great reward, for 
ever ! 



170 



LETTERS. 



LETTER XVI.— S.G. 

# s& ####### 

* * It is our privilege to " rest in the Lord." 
and to " wait patiently for him but how much 
easier is it to subscribe to this truth with the 
hand, than with the heart; at least, I find it 
so : nevertheless, it is my sorrow, not my boast. 
I would be always meditating upon the love of 
Christ, 

" But still a thousand trifles find, 
" Fresh entrance, to pollute my mind ; 
" Thus, dearest Lord, with grief I see, 
" How feeble is mj love to thee." 

How volatile and inconstant is our attachment 
to the Saviour! What a mercy it is, that our 
salvation rests not upon our love to him, but 
upon his love to us. Perplexed with the trials 
and trifles, the business and cares of the passing 
moment, we are " careful about many things," 
when " but one thing is needful and we are 
sinking in deep waters when we should be u re- 
joicing in hope of the glory of God!" May we 
neither be the subjects of despondency, on the 
one hand, nor of presumption on the other! 
they are two fatal rocks, on which many a pro- 
fessor has been wrecked. Let us keep wrestling 
with the angel of the covenant, and it will soon, 
in our experience be the break of day: the sun 
will arise, and we shall behold " a morning without 
clouds :" certainty will dispel our fears, fruition 
will more than realize our hopes. " Thou shalt 



171 



keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed 
on thee, because he trusteth in thee." May we 
have this sweet promise realized in our experience ! 
and " yet a little while, and he that shall come, 
will come, and will not tarry." 



LETTER XVII.— F. L. R. 

My Dear F — — , 
It is a mercy for which you can never be suf* 
ficiently grateful, that you no longer behold the 
Lord, " as a root out of a dry ground, having no 
form nor comeliness/' but that he has become to 
you, " the chiefest among ten thousand, and the 
altogether lovely." You seem to apprehend in 
some degree, the offices he bears for his people ; 
their Mediator to atone, their Prophet to teach, 
their Advocate to plead, and their King to go- 
vern : may you feel his love more abundantly shed 
abroad in your heart daily! and may the effects 
of it be visible in your outward conduct ! may you 
(under the influence of the Spirit which you are 
to pray for and expect) prove to all around you, 
that you are not only a professor, but a possessor 
also of that grace, that teaches you to " deny 
ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, 
righteously, and godly in the present evil world." 
As you advance in the Christian life, you will 
often, very often, suspect your sincerity; but at 
times, you will be favoured with those evidences 
of your interest in Christ, that neither self, Satan, 



LETTERS. 



nor the world, (three very potent and implacable 
enemies to the Christian) will be able to deprive 
you of. Out of the abundance of your heart, 
your mouth now speaketh, and you are willing 
to say to all, " Come unto me, and I will tell 
you what the Lord hath done for my soul! he 
hath brought me up out of the miry clay, and 
out of the horrible pit," and he hath " set my 
feet upon a rock, and established my goings." 
He has given me a view of myself as a lost sinner, 
and of himself as an all-sufficient Saviour: my 
soul has been filled with rapture, while I have 
beheld his glory, and " I have had a desire to 
depart and be with Christ, which is far better \ n 
Such are your present feelings, but you must 
»ot expect them to continue, — at least, not in the 
degree in which you now experience them. The 
Lord in the early stages of conversion, is pleased 
frequently to encourage his young disciples, by 
peculiar manifestations of his favour: it is emi- 
nently with them, u a time of love." Every ser- 
mon they hear is with rapture, every step they 
take is in pleasant paths, and under the bright 
shillings of the sun of righteousness. You know 
when the infant is born, every one smiles upon it ; 
the mother caresses it w ith an affection that only 
mothers know : it is dandled upon her knee, 
it takes its repose upon her bosom, and it has the 
fondest attention paid to it; but by and by, it 
gains strength, and these particular marks of 
kindness are withdrawn, though there exists in 
the heart of the parent, the same affection. The 
Lord deals thus with young converts : while they 



LETTERS. 



173 



are babes, his consolations with them " are nei- 
ther few nor small ;" he treats them with a ten- 
derness and care commensurate w ith their weak- 
ness; but as soon as they have become " strong 
in the Lord/' so as to be enabled to endure " hard- 
ness," he calls them into actual service ; and they 
are from that period, engaged in an arduous and 
almost incessant conflict, that terminates only 
with their mortal existence. Perhaps now, you 
will be thinking, that like the spies of old, I am 
bringing an evil report upon the good land, but 
hereafter, you will acknowledge my representation 
to have been just, and you will in part see the 
wisdom and propriety of the Lord's dealing thus 
with you. Think not, when the comfortable 
seasons you are now enjoying are removed, that 
" the mercy of the Lord is clean gone for ever 
he means onlv to teach vou, that you are not to 
live upon frames and feelings, but upon himself 
alone, for real joy. \ oung Christians are apt, 
unsuspectingly, to get into a legal spirit, and 
to go about " to establish a righteousness of 
their own," while professedly, they have " sub- 
mitted themselves to the righteousness of God." 
The first question of the apostle, after his 
conversion, w as, " Lord ! what w r ouldest thou have 
me to do ?" No doubt, a principle of real love 
actuated his mind, but it was evidently con- 
nected with a desire of recommending himself 
to God ; whereas the fact was, he could do 
nothing, of himself. All that was needful to jus- 
tify him in the sight of a holy Gcd, had been 
already done for him by his Saviour, in a way, 
o 2 ^ 



174 



LETTERS. 



more commensurate with the demands of a holy 
and righteous law, than the tribute of his im- 
perfect obedience. Nevertheless outward holiness 
will be practised, and an inward aversion to sin 
will be experienced by every real Christian ; it is 
the office of the Holy Ghost, not only to convince 
of sin, but also to humble and abase each favored 
subject of grace. Hence, the more his light shines 
into the heart, the more its hidden evils will be 
discovered and lamented ; and the Christian, in his 
own view, will lose all self-confidence and esteem. 
This is true growth in grace. We have an ex- 
emplification of this progressive work, in the 
apostle's experience. Shortly after his conver- 
sion, he declared himself " not worthy to be called 
an apostle." Upon a larger measure of grace 
being imparted to him, he takes a wider scope 
of parallel, and he styles himself, f< the least of 
all saints ? and just as he was about to " depart 
and to be with Christ," he gives himself the appel- 
lation of a the chief of sinners/' Expect not 
then, as you grow in grace, that you will grow 
in self esteem : for it is the design of the Lord 
to teach you, that salvation is an act of his own 
sovereign, free, grace, and not the reward of 
vour merits and services. Could you find any 
worthiness in yourself you would not be willing to 
be indebted to Jesus for all : and you would oc- 
casion, in heaven, could you get there, a dis- 
' cordant note in the harps of the millions around the 
throne, who continually ascribe salvation to God 
and the Lamb. But if you are really under the 
teaching of God the Holy Ghost, you will dis- 



LETTERS. 



175 



cover that sin is so incorporated in your existence, 
and so connected with your most holy things, 
that you will be glad to look to Jesus alone, 
for " wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctifi- 
cation, and redemption." Am I by these as- 
sertions, advancing anv doctrine inimical to oood 
works r Nay, I rather establish them ; because 
I point out the only spring and source, whence 
they can proceed. Principle must precede prac- 
tice, the functions of life cannot be performed, 
till the vital spark is kindled \ may you have the 
life of God in your soul, and then I know you 
dare not, you cannot, live in sin. Exhibit 
" fruits of righteousness 77 to the world, to shew 
that you are engrafted into the true vine, Christ 
Jesus : but boast not in them, since they are 
produced b\\ you, not by any merit of your 
own, but by virtue of your union to the Saviour. 
I return you E — — 7 s letter, which you cannot 
read too often ; I have been highly pleased with 
it indeed. Believe me, ever, 

Your affectionate Brother. 



The Letter above referred to, being in perfect 
unison with the sentiments and object of this 
work, is subjoined, z&ith a hope that it may 
prove beneficial. 



176 



LETTERS. 



LETTER XVIII. — -F. L. R. 

Dear F — — , 

In my following remarks to you, believe me, 
I have only your interest in view. I am happy 
to find you consider those things, which con- 
cern your everlasting peace, and that the pre- 
cepts and doctrines of the gospel engage your 
attention. In receiving the truths of the word 
of life, it is a very important question, what in- 
fluence they have, not only upon our feelings, 
but also upon our lives and conversation? You 
are placed in a situation, where, by the blessing 
of God, an adequate and comfortable subsistence, 
and every reasonable temporal convenience, is 
likely to be yours : for unalloyed happiness, you 
must look above the world unto God, who has 
promised, that those that seek him shall find him. 
It peculiarly behoves you as a Christian, to mani- 
fest in your exterior deportment, " the fruits of 
the Spirit.' 5 If the exhibition of them, should fail 
to secure the imitation, they will, at least, lay 
claim to the esteem of those around you. Be 
affable and courteous, reject an assent to licentious 
principles, to dangerous and sinful temptations, 
to evil thoughts and desires. Be thankful for 
instruction given to you in your business, do not 
be averse to reproof, respect your superiors, be 
friendly to your equals, aud condescending to your 
inferiors. Attend to the duty of private prayer. 
Read the word of God, with a desire of partaking 
the blessings it holds forth. Do not imagine 



LETTERS. 



177 



that a sociable spirit,, in a certain degree, is con- 
trary to propriety ; religion is far removed from 
gloom ; it is not of a secluded nature. While 
you use the means of grace, place no dependance, 
as to merit, on your holiest performance. Real 
religion has respect to all the social and relative 
connections of life ; it inculcates ingenuousness 
of demeanour, and humility of mind ; it teaches 
us, not to be opiniative, to cherish the simplicity 
of children, to combat with " the lusts of the 
flesh, and fne pride of life." It exposes the de- 
ceitfulness of sensual pleasures, and it carries on 
a constant opposition of divine influence, to the 
contaminating; suggestions an d evils of the human 
heart. With this influence may you be ac- 
quainted! In respect to the religious profession 
of others, do not expect to find, " all Israel, who 
are of Israel and be not surprised, if here and 
there, you meet with characters who disgrace their 
profession : if this circumstance affect you, yours 
will be a good affection. Ever remember the 
words of caution ; " Let him that thinketh he 
standeth, take heed, lest he fall." There are some 
who talk well of religion ; they have a flow of 
verbal experience, but their conduct is not under 
a Christian regulation. It is a happy circumstance, 
when " out of the abundance of the heart, the 
mouth speaketh sometimes, however, the heart 
feels, what the tongue cannot express. There 
are meditative, as well as florid professors, and 
they admire, in an equal degree the glories of 
divine truth, and " the things that accompany 
salvation " I mention this, that you may not be 



178 



LETTERS. 



too hasty, in your estimate of character: it behoYes 
us not to judge rashly ; for to his own master, 
every man standeth or falleth. May you walk 
humbly, faithfully, sincerely ; and if in the avowal 
of your attachment to the gospel, you should 
meet with the reproach of the men of the world, 
and are by them, evil spoken of ; by meekness, 
quietness, steadiness, and perseverance, may you 
refute their aspersions ; and experience, in life 
and death, " a hope which maketh not ashamed." 

I remain, ever 

Your affectionate Brother, 

E. R. 



LETTER XIX.— F. L. R. 

D EAR F \ 

It gives me much satisfaction to hear that 
you are making progress in the ways of God : 
may you abound yet more and more in every 
good word and work ! and " grace and peace be 
multiplied unto you, through the knowledge of 
God, and of Jesus our Lord!" May you be 
enabled to let the world see whose you are, and 
whom you serve ! may you confess your attach- 
ment to the Saviour, though the avowal of it 
should cost you the opposition of the world, and 
the ridicule and disdain of those arouud you ! may 
you ever consider it your privilege to glory in 
the cross of Christ ! If we have any shame, it 
should be, that we love the Saviour so little, and 



LETTEKS. 



179 



that we are not more bold and zealous in his 
cause ! ° It is easy enough (as your minister re- 
marked) to say, in the company of Royalists, 
1 Long live the king but I love the man that 
will say, * Long live the king/ among rebels /" 
* A dead fish can float with the stream, but a 
living one only, can swim against it." # May you 
have a principle of grace imparted to you, and 
you will be enabled to act consistent with the 
dignity of your high and heavenly calling ! Be 
not surprised, if those around you should jeer 
you, on account of your religion ; the people of 
the world cannot like the people of God, for they 
are of a different spirit ; the one, is in love with 
sin, the other, is opposing it ; the one, is sitting 
in the scorner's chair, hard by the brink of hell, 
the other, is a suppliant at the throne of grace ; 
the one, is drinking in iniquity, as the ox drinketh 
in water, the other, is " vexed with the filthy 
conversation of the wicked," and still more at 
his own remaining depravity ; the one, is the willing 
slave of lust, the other, is combating and struggling 
with it day by day ; the one, is taking the Lord's 
name in vain, the other, never mentions it, but 
with veneration ; the one, minds u the things of 
the flesh," the other, " the things of the Spirit." 
As Lot, in Sodom, was surrounded with the pro- 
fligate and the wicked, so is the Christian, in the 
present evil world. Nevertheless, in such a situa- 
tion, like a star in a dark night, he may reflect 
peculiar brilliancy, and prove the excellency of 
the religion of Jesus, not by " vain janglings" 

* Jaj. 



180 



LETTERS. 



and disputations, but by holiness of heart and 
life. I remember the Rev. R. Hill once observed, 
that the missionaries then about going to Otaheite, 
would not be able to preach to the natives for 
two years, owing to their ignorance of the lan- 
guage of the Country : " Very well, (said he) I 
am glad of it, all that time they will be living 
the gospel, and after this, their preaching will 
have double effect/' While you do nothing but 
argue about religion, those that are hostile to 
your principles will argue against it, and no good 
will be produced ; but when you are enabled to 
enforce and to embody as it were your sentiments 
by a holy consistent behaviour, and to " adorn 
the doctrine of God, your Saviour, in all things:" 
though the unregenerate may still dislike your 
tenets, they cannot, but secretly approve of your 
conduct, and believe that there is a divine reality 
in religion, though conscience tells them, they are 
unacquainted with it. It is a mercy, when " out 
of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh" 
of the things of God, but it should not be done 
on every occasion, m every place, nor in every 
company : while you should not Jbe silent, when 
the honour of Christ and his gospel demands 
your testimony, you should consider, that as you 
are at present a scholar, rather than a teacher, it 
will not be seemly for you to attempt to decide 
questions that have puzzled even fathers in Christ. 
It is related of the excellent Mr. Philip Henry, 
the father of the pious Matthew Henry, that to 
check the forwardness of young men, he used to 
relate the following anecdote. " Once at a meet- 



LETTERS. 



181 



ing of divines, a question of moment was to be dis- 
cussed among them : upon the proposal of it, a 
confident young man shoots his bolt presently : 
< Truly, (saith he) I hold it so.' 6 You hold, sir ? 
(said a grave divine,) it becomes you to hold 
your peace/ " I give you this ^faution, because, 
when I first set out in wisdom's Mays, my 
zeal out-ran my prudence ; without either the ta- 
lents or the grace of a Paul, I was daily disputing, 
not indeed in the school of Tyrannus, but in 
every house and company I visited : hence, I had 
to encounter the ridicule of some, and the pity of 
others, and that which was the natural consequence 
of indiscretion, I improperly called, persecution. 
I hope you understand me ; I would not have you 
refrain speaking for God, on all suitable occasions, 
but it should be, only, when opportunity presents 
itself. There is a knowledge without zeal, and 
there is also a zeal without knowledge. That you 
may have " a right judgment" in all things, and be 
blessed with the wisdom that shall be profitable to 
direct, is the prayer of 

Your affectionate Brother. 



LETTER XX.— F.L.R. 

I hope you will be encouraged to pay many 
such visits of benevolence, as that which you have 
related to me in your last letter, and that you will 
thus " shew your faith by your works." The Sa- 
viour of sinners " went about doing good." Whe- 
ther in the synagogue, the house, or the public 

R 



182 



LETTERS. 



road, he invariably spake of the things of the king- 
dom, and he has given us an example, that we 
should follow his steps. It has been said of Mr. 
Whitfield, that he never was in any person's com- 
pany half an hour, without speaking to them of 
Jesus Christ. Perhaps this determination is not 
always practicable, nor if practicable, would it, in 
every case, be prudent: but, I believe, we are 
more likely not to speak on serious subjects, when 
we ought, than to speak of them, when we ought 
not. It is a shame that the fear of man should 
have a greater influence upon our minds, than the 
fear of God, and that it should entrap our better 
knowledge, our regard for God's glory, and our 
own peace. We should not think it sufficient to 
refrain from joining in with those who blaspheme 
the name of God, but we should boldly reprove 
them ; not with bitterness of Spirit, nor with self- 
sufficient importance, but with meekness, and in a 
tender, affectionate manner : we should pity and 
pray for them, and use every lawful effort to con- 
vince them of their error. We should be, what 
some religious people were once called in derision, 
" soul lovers.' 7 Jesus was such, in a very eminent 
degree : the tears that he shed over Jerusalem, and 
at the grave of Lazarus ; his intercession for his 
murderers ; his agony in the garden ; and his whole 
life of suffering ; evinced him to be a soul lover 
indeed 1 ! 

" He sunk beneath our heavy woes, 

" To raise us to his throne; 
" There's not a gift his hand bestows, 

" But cost his heart a groan. 



LETTERS. 



183 



u This was compassion like a God, 

'■' That when the Saviour knew, 
'* The price of pardon, was his blood, 

" His pity ne'er withdrew." 

Watts. 

We may be instruments of much good to our 
fellow creatures, by a circumspect walk, and by 
" patient continuance in well doing." Such con- 
duct frequently arrests the attention of those who 
never before gave religion a thought; and gives 
weight and importance to any observation that is 
made of a religious nature : although they may appa- 
rentlv oppose what you say, conscience will tell them 
thev are advocating a bad cause : and who knows 
but that such a conviction may lead them into 
a train of thought, that may terminate in real con- 
version! Such instances are not uncommon. In 
recommending religion to others, we should use 
the language of sincerity and affection. When per- 
sonal indisposition, the loss of a beloved friend, or 
some other dispensation of Providence visits them, 
a favorable opportunity is presented to us, to speak 
to them of those things that concern their 'ever- 
lasting peace. Another way of being useful to 
our friends, is to ask them to go with us to hear 
the gospel. Many a curious Zaccheus has gone to 
the house of God, a sinner, and returned a saint. 
God is pleased to give frequent testimonies to the 
word of his grace, in the conversion of souls ; 
hence, we should use every means to bring those 
we love, under the word. Putting religious books 
into their hands is another very laudable expedient of 
benefitting our fellow creatures : these are the pro- 
ductions of the best of men, in their best hours, 



J84 



'LETTERS* 



and they speak home to the conscience, in a plain and 
faithful manner. Colonel Gardner (once a noted 
profligate) dated his conversion to a book, oppor- 
tunely put in his way by a pious relative : and to 
very many others have they been equally useful, 
The law of kindness dwelling upon our lips, 
and manifesting itself by actions, as well as by 
words, is another way, well calculated to beget a 
repects for, if not an attachment to, the religion of 
Jesus. I am sensible that nothing short of the 
grace of God can effect a real change of heart, or 
can destroy that enmity to God and to his ways, 
that is found in the mind of every unregenerate 
person ; but because the husbandman knows, that 
unless the sun shines, and the showers descend, the 
harvest will not be productive, is he on that ac- 
count to refrain casting his seed into the earth r 
Certainly not : no more should we neglect the 
means, because the means of themselves, without 
the blessing, will prove abortive. Paul planted, 
Apoilos watered, and then, God gave the increase. 
We must be active in the Lord's work, if we 
would promote his glory, or be serviceable to our 
fellow creatures. The fisherman cannot command 
the fish into his net, but he nevertheless casts it 
into the sea, and success generally crowns his per- 
severing industry. " The diligent soul shall be 
made fat." Let us then be found in the use of the 
means, and we have no reason to fear that God 
will withhold his blessing. Many other ways 
might be suggested; particularly instructing the 
children of the poor,' distributing religious tracts, 
visiting the sick and distressed, and speaking to 



LETTERS. 



185 



them familiarly upon serious topics ; but if J esus 
possess the heart, the life will necessarily be em- 
ployed in activity and usefulness ; and it must be 
left to circumstances, to point out the field of 
utility in which the Christian is called more par- 
ticularly to labour. One expedient only I shall 
further mention, which is prayer. This is an im- 
portant duty, and is often attended with peculiar 
success. Stephen prayed for Saul, while Saul was 
accessary to Stephen's death, and Saul is now with 
Stephen in glory : Christ prayed for the thief upon 
the cross, that reviled him, and that very night he 
was with him in Paradise. u The effectual fer- 
vent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." 
Let us not then forget our relatives and friends at 
a throne of grace, and who can tell, but our 
prayers may be answered, when we are no more. 
May you be very humble and dependant upon the 
Lord, who alone can enable you to " endure to 
the end f and may your " path shine clearer and 
clearer to tk^ perfect day." 



N. B. The beloved Brother to whom the four 
preceding Letters were addressed, terminated an 
active and honourable life in the service of God, at 
the early age of twenty-six, on the 19th of July, 
1811, after a sudden indisposition of less than tzco 
days continuance. 

" I lov'd him much, but now T love him more, 

" Like birds, whose beauties languish, half coneeal'd,— 

" Till, mounted on the wing, their glossy plumes 

" Expanded, shine with aznre, green, and gold ; 

" How blessings brighten as they take their flight i? 

You so. 

R 2 



186 



LETTERS. 



LETTER XXI. E. R. 

My dear E , 

I sincerely congratulate you on your recent 
nuptials, and I wish you and your dear partner, as 
much happiness, as is consistent with your eternal 
welfare. In the elysium of what some have 
termed the " Honey-moon/* perhaps if a mes- 
senger were to whisper in your ear, " This is not 
your rest!'' you would regard him as an unfriendly 
intruder, however subsequent experience might 
prove the fact. While you feel satisfaction at 
the fruition of your mutual hopes, you are to 
expect, as you are still in a wilderness; to oc- 
casionally meet with a thorny path; and that 
as you are passing through an enemy's land, 
a hostile foe will occasionally make his appear- 
ance. The ocean is not always calm, nor the 
earth clothed with perpetual verdure : while 
you can, however, have " liberty of access" to 
an unchanging God, you need not fear the in- 
stability of human enjoyments. The dearest con- 
nection in time, must one day terminate, but the 
love of God is everlasting ; and his grace is suffi- 
cient to bear us up under all the painful vicissitudes 
of this mortal state. With new situations in life, 
are connected new duties, and how to discharge 
them aright, is the chief solicitude of the Christian; 
but though an unexplored path may lay before him, 
while the Beloved's arm is his support, and his 
counsel is his guide, his footsteps cannot fail. He 
may mistrust himself; but this "will only the more 
impress upon his memory, the admonition of God s 



LETTEES. 



187 



word, " Trust ye in the Lord for ever ! for in the 
Lord JEHOVAH, is everlasting strength !" New 
joys and new sorrows are attached to the state you 
have just entered, and you can no longer be alone 
in them, for the head and the members are not 
more intimately united than is man and wife ; they 
are emphatically called in scripture, " one flesh," 
happy is it, when they are also " one spirit," but as 

" Roses grow on thorns, and honey wears a sting," 

CoWPTiR. 

trials must be expected in this, as well as in every 
other earthly connection : — the truth however, that 
" all things work together for good, to them that 
love God," is sufficient to encourage us, under 
every difficulty ; and as gold loses nothing of its 
value by passing through the .tire, and the vine is 
not injured by having the pruning knife applied to 
its branches ; so Christians suffer no real loss from 
their troubles and disappointments. You must not 
expect perfection in this new connection, for there 
is nature as well as grace in every Christian ; bear 
therefore and forbear, " submitting yourselves to 
each other in the fear of God." Be frequent 
at a throne of grace ; you have the privilege 
of going thither hand in hand, and of saying, Ou? 1 
Father ! " \ v hen the Christian begins to kneel, he 
begins to conquer." * Maintain with constancy, 
family worship ; never suiter it to be omitted 
through complaisance to visitors : the conscientious 
discharge of this duty will be attended with its 
own reward; it will promote the prosperity of 



* Jay. 



188 



LETTERS. 



your soul, and it will recommend religion to those 
around you. " Family Prayer (said Mr. Hill 
once) " is an excellent housekeeper;" this duty 
will be rendered not only practicable, but pleasant 
by habit ; seek for the grace rather than the gift of 
prayer ; if the heart is engaged, words will follow 
of course. Family devotion must be nourished by 
secret prayer, or it will degenerate to formality. 
MAy you find it very good to be much with God in 
your closet ! constant communion with him will 
enable you aright to discharge every duty. Wish- 
ing you much of the presence and blessing of the 
Lord, I am, &c. 



LETTER XXII. S. P. 

My Dear Friend, 

u It is better to go to the house of mourn- 
ing than to the house of feasting," such a house 
is ours at this moment ! Our dear little Richard 
has fallen asleep in' Jesus. Blessed babe ! we 
shall go to him, but he will no more return to 
us. The stroke has been severe, and little ex- 
pected ; the hooping-cough, with which he has 
been afflicted only one week, aided by convulsion 
fits, has terminated his temporal existence ; but, 
blessed be God ! (while we are almost overwhelmed 
with sorrow, in this vale of tears,) we do believe he 
is smiling and singing around the throne, u worthy 
the Lamb ! v We have just seen the dear, the very 
dear remains, of our more than ever-loved boy, in 



T.BTTEKS. 



his winding sheet and coffin ; he seems to smile 
upon our woe ; he looks a picture ; heaven ap- 
pears in his countenance. Never have we been 
plunged into such deep distress. Your own feel- 
ings will (I know) do justice to ours on this melan- 
choly occasion : but w e must not murmur, the 
Lord has only taken what he gave, and he has done 
it in mercy. Oh, that we may have grace to submit 
to his will, and to quietly acquiesce in this unex- 
pected and very painful bereavement. May the 
good Samaritan, the Lord Jesus Christ, come and 
pour the consolations of his grace into our wounded - 
spirits ! blessed be his name, he will " bind up the 
broken-hearted," and the " sighing of the prisoner" 
cometh up before him ! he will put the tears of his 
people into his bottle ; and he will cause them to 
know, under the acutest dispensation of his Provi- 
dence, (and this is acute indeed) that strength shall 
be given to them equal to their day. Remember 
us at a throne of grace. We request the prayers 

of our friends at K , and tell, O tell such of 

them as are Christian parents, to beware of " the 
idols in white frocks such, from our keen an- 
guish at this moment, we have too much reason to 
fear was the dear departed babe. May we bow 
submissive to the stroke that has severed from us 
so valued an earthly comfort, and learn, henceforth, 
to " set our affections on things above, and not on 
things of the earth." 

So pray your's, See. 



190 



LETTERS. 



P.S. George saw his brother yesterday when he 
came home from school ; he looked at him, and 
said, " Baby's asleep, and will w y ake presently.' 5 
When we went to our chamber last night, it was 
a trying time indeed ; we lost our dear little com- 
panion for the first time, and for ever! George 
came to our bed this morning, and with all the 
simplicity of a child, with marks of surprise in his 
countenance, he said, (looking at us, and at the 
place where our dear little one used to lay) " Where's 
baby, papa ? where's baby, mama ? In heaven was 
our reply. He seemed astonished and perplexed, 
and could not comprehend why we were in tears. 
Oh, that he may live to be a blessing to us, and in 
some degree make up the loss of his dear, his very 
dear little brother ! After the first emotions of our 
grief yesterday, we knelt around the corpse of our 
babe, and prayed, as well as sighs and tears would 
let us. Every action, every endearment of the 
child, (and they were many,) rush into our memory, 
and awaken a thousand tender feelings, and fruitless 
lamentations ; but I distress you as w r ell as myself 
with these painful recitals, and I will add no more 
than to beg your interest at a throne of grace for 
your deeply afflicted friends. 



END OF THE LETTERS. 



( 191 ) 



PART THE THIRD. 



ESSAYS. 



THE GREAT ASSIZE. 

There is scarcely any circumstance in human 
life from which (when in a suitable frame of 
mind,) we may not derive instruction. I have lately 
witnessed the solemnities and proceedings of a 
county assize, and as they much interested me, I 
shall, without reserve, communicate my reflec- 
tions upon the occasion. When the trumpets pro- 
claimed the approach of the judge, with bells 
ringing, &c. I could not but think of that so- 
lemn, yet joyful period, to the believer, when he 
shall be called to meet the Lord in the air, and 
to enter into his joy. Oh, who can speak the rap- 
turous delights of such an interview! Lo, (says 
the redeemed soul to an assembled universe) " this 
is my God ! I have waited for him ; this is my Be- 
loved ! and this is my Friend !' ; Oh, the triumphs 
of such an exclamation ! " And thou (says the 
Lord of glory in return,) art all fair, my love ! 
there is no spot in thee." While the before- 



192 



LETTERS. 



mentioned circumstances of joy attended the 
entrance of the judge into the town, I could not 
help contrasting them with the doleful situation 
of the poor prisoners, who, confined in the gaol, 
were waiting their expected trials. With what 
trepidation, I thought, would they hear the 
trumpets sound the approach, not of their friend, 
but of their judge ; not of their deliverer, but of 
him, whose office it probably soon would be, to 
condemn them to banishment, or to death. But 
with what still more awful dismay and terror will 
the unconverted sinner, in the last day, hear the 
loud trumpet sound, " Awake ye dead, and come 
to judgment !" and to this, both saint and sinner 
'^wili be called : for " we must all appear before 
the judgment seat of Christ, to receive for the 
deeds done in the body, whether they be good or 
whether they be evil. Oh, my soul, fix first thy 
thoughts upon thyself! art thou prepared to 
meet thy God? is thy lamp trimmed and burn- 
ing ? for " behold the Bridegroom cometh." Art 
thou not only a professor, but a possessor of 
vital godliness : hast thou not only " a name to 
live" in the church of God on earth, but a name 
also " written in the Lamb's book of life hast 
thou evidence of an interest in his love ? art thou 
dying daily to the world, to thy sins, to thyself: 
are thy proud thoughts humbled in the dust ? 
art thou content to be nothing, that Jesus may 
be all ? art thou satisfied that no other name is 
given among men whereby thou canst be saved, 
but the name of Christ alone ? art thou not only 
conscious of inward depravity, but mourning 



ESSAYS. 



193 



over it, and longing for deliverance from it ? 
and that, not only from its apprehended conse- 
quence, the wrath of God, but also, because it 
has pierced the heart, and occasioned the agonies 
of thy Redeemer ? art thou panting for holiness, 
not with a view of thereby justifying thyself 
before God, but because thy God is holy, 
and thou desirest to be like him ? Then rejoice ; 
the solemnities of the judgment day, need not 
affright thee : the heavens may depart, the ele- 
ments may melt with fervent heat, the rocks 
may be loosened, the whole world may be in 
flames, and thou still be safe; the Lord is thy 
portion, and because he lives, because he loves, 
because he redeems, because he justifies, because 
he glorifies, thou shalt live also. But if thou 
art a stranger to his grace, if thou knowest no- 
thing of that change of heart which all his people 
experience ; if thou art resting upon righteous 
self, and looking to that, rather than to him for 
salvation, thy case is dreadful ; thou art dreaming 
of security on the brink of destruction, of liberty 
whilst bound in chains ; and of life, whilst the 
officer is at hand to lead thee to death,— to death, 
not temporal, but eternal. 



THE INWARD CONFLICT. 

When we take a survey of the wickedness 
and temptations which abound in the world, to- 
gether with the propensity that there is in our 

s 



194 



ESSAYS. 



evil nature to every thing that is " earthly, sensual, 
and devilish/' it must be little short of a miracle, 
that can keep us from being contaminated by the 
pollution around and within us ; especially when 
we consider, that Satan, the great adversary of 
our souls, is ever lying in wait to deceive, ever 
" going about, seeking whom he may devour." 
These are affecting truths, which the Christian 
daily learns experimentally. He need not have 
arguments adduced in proof of the depravity of 
human nature, for he feels its baneful influence ; 
and when he confesses himself to be a sinner, 
it is not with him, a circumstance of trifling im- 
port, but a matter of poignant sorrow, and the 
cause of much humiliation before God. It is a 
wounded Spirit alone that can enter into the 
apostle's feelings, when he exclaims, " O wretched 
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the 
body of this death ?" The Christian has received 
that principle from God, which renders sin abo- 
minable and odious in the extreme, and yet he has 
that old corrupt nature within, that loves, and 
would, but for subduing grace, be continually 
joining itself with forbidden objects; hence, a 
conflict arises, painful in its nature, but honour- 
able in its principle, and certain as to its event. 
1st. It is painful in its nature, because the 
Christian would serve and love God always and 
wholly, but he finds " a law in his members, war- 
ring agaiast the law of his mind/' and too often 
u bringing him into captivity, to the law of sin 
which is in his members." Oh, how frequently 
is it his sorrowful exclamation, " When I would 



ESSAYS. 



do good, evil is present with me !" and what is he 
to do in these circumstances ? is he to rush into 
sin to drown reflection ? and by hardening con- 
science to obtain peace ? No, he wants only " the 
peace of God/' and that is contrary and expressly 
opposite to the peace which those possess, who 
being " dead in trespasses and sins/' are alike 
insensible to the terrors of Sinai, and the alluring 
voice of gospel invitation. Hence, the very suf- 
ferings of believers, on account of their con- 
victions of sin, if rightly considered, are evidences 
of their interest in the blessings of salvation; 
and in this sense, we may say, " Blessed are they 
that mourn. " If sin is our burden it will never be 
our condemnation. It is an office of the Holy- 
Ghost to convince of sin, and how can this be 
done, but by the believer being made to feel that 
he is a sinner ? I apprehend the painful sensations 
which arise in the mind on the knowledge or con- 
viction of sin, are satisfactory evidences of an 
interest in Christ. The wicked and unregenerate 
may, at times, have great terror of conscience, 
but it has for its origin, no better a principle than 
fear; hence, many criminals, in immediate pros- 
pect of an ignominious death, and in expectation 
of future judgment, are apparently very penitent ; 
but if a pardon is afforded, how quickly every 
appearance of amendment passes away, and the 
old path of wickedness is again trodden, perhaps 
with more hasty steps than ever. The consciences 
of such may be compared to a bank placed across 
a current ; an alarming Providence, a sense of im- 
mediate danger raises it, and for a time the stream 



196 



ESSAYS. 



of siii is opposed, but the obstruction it meet- 
with only increases its force, and the barrier is 
no sooner removed, than the current rushes in 
like a flood ; its course, though repelled, has not 
been changed ; it has therefore been increased by 
its temporary confinement, and that which threat- 
ened destruction as a stream, is still more dan- 
gerous by becoming a torrent. But the sensations 
which arise in the mind of a believer on the con- 
viction of sin, are those of real sorrow : not that 
which attracts the eye, and courts the attention of 
others, but that which leads its subject to secret 
aspirations of soul, to God who alone can suc- 
cour it under its various temptations, and enable 
it successfully to pass through all the conflicts and 
trials with which it is exercised, Love, and not 
terror, renders sin hateful to the regenerate soul ; 
the blessed Spirit has witnessed with his Spirit 
again and again, that he is a subject of grace ; 
the Saviour in many a Bethel visit, has said to him, 
" Be of good cheer, thy sins, which are many, 
are all forgiven but still, feeling himself to be 
the subject of remaining depravity, and that his cor- 
juptions are striving to gain the ascendancy over 
his thoughts, his affections, his heart ; and to rob 
him of his privilege of communion with the 
Lord. Oh, how does he sigh for liberty, and, in 
the impassioned language of the Psalmist, ex- 
claim, " Oh, that I had wings like a dove, for then 
would I flee away, and be at rest !" " 1 would 
leave for ever, this body of sin and death ; where 
I am constrained to dwell with the enemies of 
my Lord's glory, and my own peace ; and I would 



ESSAYS. 



197 



adore and love the Lamb, with the redeemed, 
around the throne : but, alas ! I feel so much 
carnality of mind, so much deadness in the ways 
of God, so much sin and imperfection in the per- 
formance of my holiest duties, that the, conflict 
within is very painful :" nevertheless, it is, 2dly, 
honourable in its principle, for it is an indication 
of being under the tuition of God, and " none 
teacheth like him." It gives us a likeness to him, 
and it is an evidence of our belonsfins: to his family, 
all of whom, " through much tribulation enter the 
kingdom." It affords us also a clearer view of the 
beauties and excellencies of scripture, the subjects of 
whom, for the most part were characters, who were 
exercised with the same trials as ourselves — hence 
the promises in the word of God, appear pecu- 
liarly delightful, because w 7 e find them directed to 
our particular case and circumstances. And it is, 
moreover, an evidence that we are not of the 
multitude who are hastening on in the downward 
road; though in danger of destruction, like the 
silly moth, they are insensible and sporting near 
the flame, whose touch is death. Sic to them 
is no burden, it is the only element in which 
they find pleasure; hence, they " glory in their 
shame,'' and they never sigh over the corruptions 
of their nature, nor express any ardent desire 
of deliverance from them. They know not what 
it is to mourn after an absent God, for thev have 
never experienced the joys of his presence ; but 
the believer is alive to all these feelings, and if 
they afford him not present comfort, they are 
proofs that he is not left to perish in his sins, 
s 2 



198 



ESSAYS. 



If the soul is alive to God, it will be either rejoic- 
ing in his presence, or mourning his absence. A 
dead calm is unfavourable to the Christian as w ell 
as to - the mariner. What should embolden and 
afford us consolation under the sharpest trials we 
are exposed to, is, that 3dly, The conflict is certain 
as to its issue. Victory is already determined 
in the purpose of God, and his decree must be 
fulfilled. Many a wave may still menace us with 
destruction ; but at length, we are certain of ob- 
taining the haven. Many a conflict we may yet have 
to maintain with Satan, but our life cannot be 
destroyed, for that is " hid with Christ in God," 
and he has given us the promise, that " because he 
lives, we shall live also." Many a cloud we may 
still have to enter, which may enwrap us in dark- 
ness ; and the valley of the shadow of death 
lies in our way to the heavenly city, and may oc- 
casion us much trepidation ; but neither the waves 
of trouble, should they arise mountains high ; 
the buffetings of Satan, though more severe than 
a Paul experienced ; nor clouds of soul adversity : 
no, nor even death itself, shall separate us from 
u the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our 
Lord." Herein is our confidence, and it is not 
unscriptural, nor presumptuous, resting in the 
eternal immutable love of God to say, " I shall 
not be moved." Let us then go forward in the 
Lord's way, though it may be rough at times, 
and painful to flesh and blood. Let us be found 
fighting rather than parleying with the enemy : 
it is more honourable, though we should be 
wounded, to have the sword in our hand, than 



■ESSAYS. 



199 



to be signing the preliminaries of peace ; it will 
save us much anxiety of mind to keep conti- 
nually watching unto prayer ; thus we shall mark 
the enemy's approach, and be prepared for his 
attack. If I may be allowed the simile, thoughts 
are the suburbs of the soul : if we suffer them 
to be the prisoners of Satan, he advances easily 
to the next post,— -desire : if not repelled here, 
he knows how to secret himself in ambush, in the 
post of — opportunity : and, at length, to spring 
the mine, that shall give him victory, and cause 
us, if not to make a surrender, at least, a cowardly 
and shameful retreat. We cannot too strongly 
guard our thoughts : the out-posts of a kingdom 
are generally most fortified. When an enemy 
gets possession of these, he advances with little 
difficulty to its centre ; hence, we should n jt resist 
evil only, but also its appearance ; and ever re- 
collect, that though the shadow of a sword cannot 
hurt, it is the representative of what can, and 
that if we are pursued by the one, we may be 
assured the other is at no great distance. 



ON TRUSTING IN GOD, 

We are encouraged to trust in God, 1st, 
from his character, he is " faithfulness and 
truth." Is he not faithful ? behold his promises 
of mercy fulfilled in the " number that no man 
can number," around the throne above. Whence 
came they there ? he gave them to his Son in 



zoo 



ESSAYS. 



covenant before all worlds : he ordained them to 
eternal life, " Therefore are they before the 
throne, and serve him day and night in his temple ; 
and he that sitteth on the throne, shall dwell 
among them. They shall hunger no more, neither 
thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on 
them, nor any heat ; for the Lamb, which is in 
the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and 
shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, 
and God shall wipe away all tears from their 
eyes." Is he not faithful ? behold the miseries of 
the lost, are they not awful proofs of the holiness 
of his character ? of the strict administration of 
his justice ? Did he not say to Adam, " Of 
every tree of the garden, thou mayest freely eat, 
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil, thou shalt not eat of it ; for in the day that 
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die ?" and 
having eat of it, has he not died ? and are not all 
his posterity following him to the grave ? Again, 
did not the Lord promise, that " while the earth 
remained, seed time and harvest should not cease," 
and in what year since the creation, has the pro- 
mise failed ? has not God annexed sorrow 7 to sin, 
and expressly said that " the way of transgressors 
is hard/' and is not affliction, more or less, an 
inmate of every bosom, because " that all have 
sinned ?" do not all, in heaven, earth, and hell, 
proclaim the faithfulness of God ? Surely, then, 
it is our duty, yea more, it is our privilege, to 
trust in him. But, 2dly, We should trust in 

HIM BECAUSE IT IS HIS COMMAND. " Tl'USt 

in him at all times, ye people ; pour out your 



ESSAYS. 



.201 



hearts before him :" and what renders the obliga- 
tion still more binding, is, that " his commands are 
not grievous." They are not dictated by an arbi- 
trary monarch, but by a wise and holy lawgiver. 
We know that the violation of human statutes, 
subjects the offender to punishment : — -and are the 
commands of God less binding? 3dly, The 
glory of God is connected w t ith our 
trusting in kim, and particularly so, in seasons 
of extremity and distress. Hence the martyrs, in 
their sufferings, gave testimony to the faithfulness 
of God. We hear Job exclaiming, under very 
painful circumstances, u Though he slay me, yet 
will I trust in him !" We behold Daniel, content 
to be thrown into a lion's den, sooner than deny 
his God ; and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, 
from the same honourable principle, disregarding 
the seven times heated fiery furnace of Nebuchad- 
nezzar. The promise of God was literally fulfilled 
in their experience, " When thou walkest through 
the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the 
flame kindle upon thee, for I am the Lord thy 
God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." 
Lastly, Trusting in God is intimately 

CONNECTED WITH OUR OWN PEACE. The ef- 
fect of it, is " quietness and assurance for ever." 
" Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose 
mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in 
thee." Many of the providences of God may 
appear inexplicable ; but a day is coming, when 
his people will readily exclaim, " Thou hasi done 
all things well." A firm confidence in the love 
and goodness of God, will reconcile us to the 



^202 



ESSAYS, 



trials and perplexities of the present scene ; but 
without this conviction, we shall " faint in the day 
of adversity/' and be ready at almost every step 
of our pilgrimage, to say with Jacob, " AH these 
things are against me !" whereas a belief that 
" God is our God for ever and ever," and that 
44 he will be our guide even unto death," will 
cause us to enjoy peace though all should be 
tumultuous around us : we shall " rejoice in hope, 
be patient in tribulation, and continue constant 
in prayer." Prosperity will not exalt us above 
measure, nor adversity swallow us up with over- 
much sorrow : the Lord will to us be " a very 
present help in trouble f a " God near at hand, 
and not afar off." " Strong in the Lord, and in 
the power of his might," we shall go on con- 
quering and to conquer, and " the year of release" 
will soon arrive, when we shall have an honourable 
discharge from the war in which we are at pre- 
sent engaged, and an everlasting admission granted 
us into the kingdom and presence of our Saviour 
and our God. 



ON HEARING THE WORD. 

A Paul may plant, and an Apollos water, 
but it is God alone that giveth the increase. To 
hear the word with profit, it is necessary that we 
should look higher than the pulpit, for ministers 
have not the power of communicating grace to 
the hearts of their hearers ; it is a heavenly gift. 



ESSAYS. 



205 



and can only be obtained by ardent prayer. " We 
have this treasure (said the apostle) in earthen 
vessels, that the excellency of the power may be 
of God, and not of us." Enticing words may 
please men, but it is " the Holy Ghost sent down 
from heaven," that converts souls. Ministers can 
only draw the bow at a venture, the Lord must 
direct the arrow, or it will not reach the heart. 
The inference is plain : — if we love the gospel, 
we should pray much for those who preach it : 
they need prayer, for their work is important. 
We should not make them offenders for a word, 
for they are men of like passions with ourselves, 
nor should we look upon them as more than 
mortal, lest they should think more highly of 
themselves than they ought to think. " They are 
(as one observes) but earthen vessels, they ought 
not therefore to be placed too high, lest they 
should fall ; nor yet too low, lest they should be 
trampled under foot." When we do not hear a 
minister with profit, we should find fault rather 
with ourselves, than with him. Perhaps, we have 
neglected prayer on his behalf, how T then could 
we expect a blessing ? or it may be, we have 
gone to the house of God, to be pleased, rather 
than to be profited ; or with the captious spirit 
of critics, rather than w ith the cautious spirit of 
Christians. The Lord has bfeen pleased to bestow 
various gifts upon his servants, and each has his 
respective sphere of usefulness. If the eloquent 
Apollos had preached to the illiterate and un- 
learned, he probably would not have been under- 
stood ; if the plain and zealous Peter, had ad- 



204 ESSAYS. 

\ 

dressed Paul's auditory on Mar's Hill, he most 
likely would have excited disgust : Each had his 
respective work to do, his station appointed, his 
labour blessed. If the soul be alive to God, it 
will be satisfied with wholesome food, however 
plain, but the full soul will loathe even the honey- 
comb. We should seek after truth rather than 
talent, and " desire the sincere milk of the word," 
though it may be conveyed to us in a homely 
vessel. All fish are not caught with the lowly 
worm, nor all with the gaudy fly. The uncouth 
ram's horn, and the silver trumpet, were both 
instruments of usefulness in the Lord's hand, and 
the talents of ministers are destined for different 
purposes. It, nevertheless, behoves those who 
have eminent talents, to use simplicity ; and those 
of moderate attainments, to " find out acceptable 
words." The sun that reflects its lustre on the 
palace, loses nothing of its glory, for cheering 
with its beams the wild flower of the heath. 
Nothing more proved the greatness of Dr. Watts's 
mind, than his composiug hymns for children, 
and catechisms and prayers for almost infants. 
None but a fool will despise learning, but there 
is " a knowledge that puffeth up ;" and there is 
a text of scripture that sayeth, " Lean not to 
thine own understanding." The apostle was afraid 
of speaking vrith " cunningly devised words of 
man's wisdom," least the faith of his converts 
should stand " iii the wisdom of man," and not 
"in the power of God;'* for says he (to the 
Corinthian converts,) " except ye utter by the 
tongue, word 1 ensy to be understood, how shall 



ESSAYS. 



205 



it be known what is spoken ? for ye shall speak 
unto the air." It is derogatory to the dignity of a 
Christian minister, and a criminal abuse of his 
office, to play off the scholar in the pulpit ; a 
hungry man cannot feed upon flowers ; and a soul 
alive to God will disdain, with just abhorrence, a 
substitution of oratory for spirituality, and the dis- 
play of human talent for " the wisdom that is from 
above." 



ON TIME. 

Where is yesterday r— It is gone for ever! 
Where is to-day ? — Its moments are on the wing I 
Where is to-morrow ? 

'* In another world ! 
" To numbers this is certain, 
" The reverse is sure to none." 

Young, 

On what then are our hopes built ? — on time or 
eternity ?— on earth or heaven ? — Is the creature or 
the Creator our chief good r — the uncertain stream 
or the boundless ocean our source of supply ? 
These are momentous enquiries. May we lay 
them to heart! may reflection feed upon them! 
may grace improve them!— Of what infinite value 
is time ! 'tis " the space given for repentance," or 
to fill up the measure of our iniquities! 'tis the 
prelude ! the fore-runner of heaven or of hell ! and 
yet how short, how uncertain its duration 1 



T 



20b 



ESSAYS. 



" How like the dial's tardy-moving shade, 
u Day after day slides from us unperceived, 
1 The cunning fugitive, is swift by stealth ; 
u Too subtle is the movement to be seen, 
" Yet soon the hour is up, and we are gone." 

Young. 

How small a part of time elapsed has been given 
to God ! how much to vanity and folly ! The 
world has claimed its portion, and we have acceded 
to its demand : business has required its allotment, 
and we have granted its request : our wearied bo- 
dies have asked for their share, and hours have 
been devoted to sleep, which might have been 
more profitably employed in prayer and praise ; 
sinful diversions, in our unconverted state, have 
stolen from us day after day, and midnight fre- 
» quently has not ended our thoughtless revels : these, 
and nameless other objects, have, at one period 
or another, engrossed our attention, our affection, 
our pursuit ; but how small a portion have we re- 
served for reflection, for prayer, for soul concerns ! 
Well may we adore the clemency of our God, and 
with the prophet exclaim, " It is of the Lord's 
mercies that we are not consumed, because his 
compassions fail not." Blessed be his name, 
" they are new every morning." But what are 
now our thoughts, our views, our dispositions : 
have we profited by experience ? and can we say 
" the time past of our life has sufficed us to have 
wrought the will of the Gentiles and to have 
served " divers lusts and passions ?" are we now 
observing from the heart the divine injunction, 
" Come out from among them, and be ye separate, 
and touch not the unclean thing are our thoughts. 



ESSAYS. 



207 



our desires, our pursuits, such as become those 
who are called " to glory and virtue ?" such as are 
suited to the dignity of the follow ers of Christ, and 
the heirs of his kingdom r can we throw down 
the gauntlet with our divine Saviour, and say with 
him, " Which of you convince th me of sin ?" alas ! 
we cannot ; our experience tells us that " in many 
things we offend, (and that) in all things we come 
short of his glory." How circumscribed are our 
views of God ! of his word ! and of ourselves ! 
how much dross is still mixed with the fine gold 
of the kingdom ! how often does a deceitful heart 
betray itself, and tell us that " we have not yet at- 
tained, neither are already perfect." What reflec- 
tions should these convictions produce I may they 
not be briefly these : — " a new period of time is be- 
gun, another year (perhaps my last) is commenced ; 
Lord, let it be devoted to thee ! let our hearts, our 
lives, our all be thine ! we desire to love thee, 
make us ashamed that we are still so cold ! make 
us glow with divine ardour ! claim us as the pur- 
chase of thy blood, as the conquest of thy love ! 
and henceforth, 

" Be thou our all, 
** Our theme ! our inspiration! and our crown! 
*' Our strength in age! our rise in low estate! 
" Our soul's ambition! pleasure! wealth! our world! 
a Our light in darkness, and our life in death!" 

Young, 



209 



ESSAYS. 



ON DARK DISPENSATIONS OF PROVIDENCE. 

To suspect the wisdom and goodness of God, 
because the dispensations of his Providence are 
mysterious, is as unreasonable as it would be to im- 
pute folly to Sir Isaac Newton's system of philo- 
sophy, because a child should not be able to com- 
prehend it. The gardener applies the pruning 
knife to the vine, the jeweller casts the gold into 
the furnace, ignorance arraigns the procedure ; but 
what is the fact r the vine is thereby rendered more 
fruitful, and the gold is enhanced in value. If in 
our judgment of earthly things, we are liable to 
err, is it not presumptuous to call in question the 
love of God, because his dealings with us are not 
always consonant to our imperfect views or wishes: 
Dark dispensations of Providence should teach us, 
1st, " Our own ignorance." How blind is 
the human understanding till enlightened by the 
Spirit of God ! We " go about to establish a 
righteousness of our own," and think to reach 
heaven by the Babel structure of human merit. 
With the Laodicean Church, we say, " We are rich 
and increased with goods, and have need of no- 
thing ; and know not that we are wretched, and 
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Dis- 
eased, we despise a cure ; in danger, we ask not for 
a deliverer; in bondage, we sigh not for liberty. 
And even after the grace of God has reached our 
hearts, how dim is frequently the eye of faith ! the 
chastening rod is mistaken for the destroying sword ; 
we are fretful where we should be submissive ; and 
while by a discovery of the corruption of our hearts, 



ESSAYS. 



209 



the Lord means only to kill our pride, and to wean 
us from self-confidence, we say with Jacob, " All 
these things are against me !" or with Isaiah, " Woe 
is me, for I am undone !" In Providence too, how 
often do we mistrust his care, and because we re- 
ceive not a supply at the moment, or in a way that 
our petulance prescribes, we entertain " hard 
thoughts" of his government, and exclaim with the 
church of old, " The Lord hath forsaken me, and 
my God hath forgotten me !" but behold, discon- 
tented Christian, the fowls of the air, " they sow 
not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet 
your heavenly Father feedeth them; how much 
more will he feed you, Oh ye, of little faith." " And 
will God (says Mr. Henry) provide for his birds, 
and not for his children?" Let the reproof put 
unbelief to the blush. Dark dispensations of Pro- 
vidence, should teach us, 2dly, Our dependence 
upon God. " When he giveth quietness, who 
then can make trouble r" Health may forsake thee ; 
let not then the strong man glory in his strength : 
intellect may vanish, and the man of science to-day, 
may be an ideot to-morrow : riches may " make 
themselves wings, and fly away/ 7 or they may prove 
a curse to their possessors : " the desire of thine 
eyes may be cut off with a stroke," and the social 
intercourse of the domestic . circle be destroyed 
in a moment : business, from the casualties of com- 
merce, or the fraud of others, may, in spite of all 
thy diligence, involve thee in perplexity and ruin, 
and every project be baffled and destroyed; but 
" they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their 



210 



ESSAYS. 



strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, 
they shall run and not be weary, and they shall 
walk and not faint/' What is the inference ? 
* Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he 
shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the 
Lord." Dark dispensations of Providence should 
teach us, 3dly, " The instability of human 
enjoyments." What are they, when put in com- 
petition with the blessed God ? miserable com- 
forters ! physicians of no value ! How beautiful 
are flowers !— and how transient ! How clear is the 
sky ! — and how soon overcast ! How calm is the 
ocean !— -and how quickly agitated and in a foam ! 
Such are the contingencies of earthly bliss; its 
pearls are dew drops : its substance, shadow : its 
foundation, ice. 

" Lean not on earth, 'twill pierce tliee to the heart : 

" A broken reed at best, but oft a spear, 

" On its sharp point, peace bleeds, and hope expires." 

Young. 

Does Jonah find shelter under a gourd ? the morn- 
ing's sun beholds it withered. Does Lot chuse 
the plains of Jordan because they are well watered, 
and pleasant to the eye ?" how soon are they burnt 
with fire. Does Joseph dream that his brother's 
sheaf cc made obeisance to his sheaf?" how speedily 
is he in the pit ; a slave to the Ishmaelites, a pri- 
soner in the dungeon. Does the man, whose 
u ground brought forth plentifully," solace himself 
that he has " goods laid up for many years?" that 
night his soul is required of him. Does Job say, 
u I shall die in my nest ?" the Sabeans are at hand 



ESSAYS. 



211 



to spoil his property ; the hurricane to destroy his 
children ; the disease to afflict his body. " Boast 
not thyself of to-morrow, for thou knowest not 
what a day may bring forth." Dark dispensations 
of Providence should lead us, 4thly, " To self- 
inquiry." Is there not a cause? " Affliction 
cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble 
spring out of the ground." God has an end to an- 
swer in all he does : are his " judgments abroad in 
the earth ?" it is, that " the inhabitants thereof 
may learn righteousness." Are his children chas- 
tened ? it is, that they may " not be condemned 
with the world." Is Job reduced from affluence 
to penury, and visited w ith stroke upon stroke ? it 
is, that he may " abhor himself, and repent in dust 
and ashes." Does Eli, at the same moment, re- 
ceive intelligence, that the ark of God is taken, 
and that his children are slain ? his crime and pu- 
nishment are connected with the dispensation : 
u his children made themselves vile, and he re- 
strained them not." Let us then, before we arraign 
the government of God, look well to our own 
doings. Some truant Jonah may be in the ship, 
and we must cast him out, before we shall have a 
prosperous gale : some wicked Achan may be in 
the camp, and the " wedge of gold" must be re- 
stored, ere the Lord will be on our side. And 
should conscience not turn self-accuser, still let us 
be witnesses for God, and say with Abraham, 
" Shall not the judge of all the earth do right r" 
yes, for though clouds and darkness are round about 
him, justice and judgment are still the habitation of 
his throne. 



212 



ESSAYS. 



M Deep in unfathomable mines, 

*' Of never-failing skill, 
" He treasures up his bright designs, 

" And works his sov'reign will. 

" Blind unbelief is sure to err, 
** And scan his work in vain; 
" God is his own interpreter, 
« And he will make it plain." 

COWPER. 



ON PRAYER MEETINGS. 

Perhaps of all the means of grace, there are 
none that are more profitable to the soul than 
meetings for prayer. The design of this essay is, 
to suggest some hints for the improvement and 
better regulation of such societies. Those who 
are called upon to lead in prayer, should always be 
short in the exercise ; but how often is this caution 
disregarded! a considerable part of the allotted 
time is frequently monopolized by a prayer, distin- 
guished by nothing but a multiplicity of words and 
vain repetitions ; the attention of fellow-worship- 
pers is thereby exhausted ; and every one is heartily 
glad, when the long-spun-out prayer is concluded. 
Now such a practice surely cannot be profitable : 
what says the word of God ? " Be not rash with 
thy mouth; and let not thine heart be hasty to 
utter any thing before God; for God is in heaven, 
and thou upon earth, therefore let thy nvrds be 
few" Pharisees in old time, we know, used to think 
they should be heard for their much speaking, but 



ESSAYS. 



213 



Christians being better instructed, have no such 
apology to plead. Superfluous expressions in 
prayer are certainly, " words without wisdom/' 
because the Lord notices not the quantity, but the 
quality of the petitions that arise before his throne. 
It is readily admitted, that the soul may enjoy, at 
some particular seasons, unusual liberty and en- 
largement, but this unpremeditated trespass upon 
the time and patience of others, is very different 
from the regular pilfering of those, who are always 
equally long, and equally tedious. Mr. Jay, in his 
well-written memoir of the life of the late Corne- 
lius Winter, relates the following anecdote, which 
I earnestly recommend to all whom it may concern : 
" Mr. Whitfield, being once at a friend's house, 
the master of the family, one evening, prayed 
himself ; he was immoderately long : in the mid- 
dle of the prayer, Mr. Whitfield rose up, and 
sat down in the chair, and when me long-zcincled 
gentleman had done, said to him, with a frown, 
" Sir, you prayed me into a good frame, and you 
prayed me out of it again." In social prayer 
meetings, it is very desirable that several should 
engage, but this cannot be done, unless the prayers 
of each intercessor are short. The ablest mu- 
sician, if he had but one chord to play upon, 
however he might be charmed with the sound 
of his own instrument, would soon tire the greatest 
amateur of music. Next to long prayers, I enter 
a protest against long hymns ; two or three verses 
are much better than six or seven. An aukward 
pause is sometimes occasioned by the party called 
upon, not having a hymn in readiness to give out ; 



214 



ESSAYS. 



this might be remedied by his fixing upon one, pre- 
vious to his coming to the meeting. There are some 
who rather preach than pray. They talk of God, but 
not to God, You would think, if you did not see 
them, that they were in the pulpit, instead of being 
at the footstool. Now, I confess, I like sermons 
intermingled with prayer, but I do not like prayer 
intermingled with exhortation : It denotes irrever- 
ence, and a strange forgetfulness of the avowed 
object of the meeting ; and the introduction of 
anecdotes, dreams, and other vagaries of the 
imagination, in prayer, is highly inconsistent and 
disgusting to every sober and pious mind. There 
are those too, who just upon the conclusion of 
their prayer, begin again, and get into such a new 
strain of supplication, that it is difficult to deter- 
mine when they really mean to finish. Prayer 
should not be in too low a tone of voice, least it 
should to others, prove an unknown tongue ; 
nor should it be in too loud a strain, least the 
minds of some of the assembly should be agi- 
tated and discomposed. If too much familiarity 
breeds contempt, what shall be said of those who 
address the Lord in a manner, that would insure 
the certain displeasure of a fellow mortal, placed 
but one step above them in Providence ? We 
are exhorted to come " with boldness to a throne 
of grace," but not with impudence. 66 God is a 
Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship 
him in spirit and in truth." If " the fear of the 
Lord is the beginning of wisdom/' those who 
approach him with indecorous freedom, have cer- 
tainly not begun to be w ise. We are prone to ex- 



ESSAYS. 



215 



tremes ; hence, there are others, who never pray 
without an introductory recapitulation of the 
titles and attributes of Jehovah. Their cere- 
monious language and manner would become 
the drawing-room, rather than the footstool. Nor 
can I pass over that class of formal worshippers, 
who in their scrupulous attention to order, cause 
every sentence to follow each other, with as 
much regularity and precision, as though they were 
repeating the letters of the alphabet; hence, 
they have invocation, adoration, supplication, and 
I know not how many more branches of prayer ; 
but I am certain that the soul alive to God, 
cannot be confined by any such trammels : the 
real Christian will pray spiritually, not mechani- 
cally : by heart, not by rote. His object is, not 
to obtain a classical arrangement of ideas, but to 
express with simplicity and ardour, the real feel- 
ings of his mind. Were a man, whose house was 
on fire, to omit calling out for water and help, 
till he had formed his request in elegant lan- 
guage, he would be deemed a fool or a madman : 
and what must be said of that man, who thinks 
that eloquence of expression, is " the one thing 
needful," to obtain the ear of God ? The looks 
and lispings of a babe find immediate access to 
a fond parent's heart; and is the Lord less able, 
or less willing, to understand the wants and wishes 
of his children r 

" He heeds the language of a silent tear, 
" And sighs are incense of a heart sincere/' 



£16 



ESSAYS. 



" Like as a Father pitieth his children, so the 
Lord pitieth them that fear him, for he knoweth 
our frame, he remembereth that we are dust." 
These remarks are submitted with brotherly 
affection. If they are just, they will, no doubt, 
meet with attention; and«if the result should be 
an increase of pleastirS and advantage to those 
who love to assemble " where prayer is wont to 
be made," the design of the writer will be accom- 
plished, and God shall have the praise. 



EBENEZER. 

As the traveller, by contemplating the pros- 
pect around him, forgets in a degree the fatigue 
of his journey; so would I lessen the toils of my 
earthly pilgrimage, by tracing the goodness and 
mercy that have followed me all the days of my 
life. When I look back upon my past life, 
and trace thy dealings with me, Oh, my God, 
to the present moment; I blush at the review 
of innumerable transgressions ; and 1 should sink 
into despair, were it not for thy rich mercies in 
Christ Jesus. Amidst the many instances of thy 
kindness, I desire, first, and principally, to be 
thankful to thee, for calling me by thy grace in 
early life, to a " knowledge of the truth as it is 
in Jesus." 

" Who would believe such lips could praise, 
H Or think my durk and winding wa^s, 
u Should ever lead to thee?" 



ESSAYS. 



Once I slighted and despised thy people, but 
now am I made willing to cast in my lot with 
theirs, and my highest ambition is to be a follower 
of them " who through faith and patience are 
inheriting the promises^JLpraise thee also for 
the ordinances of thine house : how often have 
they proved to me " tim jMPrefreshing from the 
presence of the Lord !" With David, have I ex- 
claimed, " How amiable are thy tabernacles, O 
Lord of Hosts !" my spirit has rejoiced in God 
my Saviour, and with the disciple I have said, 
« Master, it is good to be here." My sabbaths 
have been truly " days of delight," seasons of holy 
rejoicing. I have ascended Pisgah's Mount, and 
have had a distinct view of the promised land, 
though vet afar off! My soul has been filled with 
unspeakable joy ; and for a season, the troubles 
and trials of the way have been all forgotten. 
I have found him " whom my soul loveth," and 
I have been enaUcd to exclaim, with the con- 
vinced disciple, "My Lord, and my God!" Nor 
let me forget O Saviour, the occasional visits I 
have had from thee in my retired hours : I have 
prayed to thee in secret, and thou hast bowed 
thine ear to the voice of my supplication. My 
heart has been touched with " a live coal from 
thine altar and the lifting up of my hands has 
been " as the evening sacrifice." I praise thee 
likewise for putting into my hands, thine own 
blessed word : how beautifully have its pages 
set forth thy love and grace! I have viewed in 
them thy perfections and attributes, and have seeu 
myself " as nothing, and less than nothing, and 

u 



21S 



ESSAYS. 



vanity/' In Sinai's law I have read my con- 
demnation ; but in thy gospel, my acquittal, my 
tide to everlasting life ! Oh boundless love ! 
Oh, condescending grace ! In thy word, Oh my 
God ! thou hast as jgtogfire, given me the key of 
thine own treasure Lju^P; and I have beheld 
coronation robes amf^^ittering crowns ; harps, 
whose golden strings await the touch of mortal 
hands ; rings, with mottos on them, expressive of 
the matchless donor's love; " durable riches 
and righteousness;" gifts innumerable, and all 
of them offered, " without money and without 
price." " Bless the Lord, O my soul, and for- 
get not all his benefits!" "Who forgiveth all 
thine iniquities ; who healeth all thy diseases ; who 
redeerneth thy life from destruction; who crowneth 
thee with loving kindness and tender mercies!" 
Though my foundation has been the dust, and 
my abode, a tabernacle of clay; my Lord has 
left a throne of glory to visit me in my low 
estate ; and though " all power in heaven and in 
earth" belongs to him : he has stood at my door 
knocking, and has condescended even to sup with 
me. Though all the nations of the world are 
but as " the drop of a bucket, and are counted 
as the small dust of the balance" before him; 
yet has he taken an interest in my affairs; and 
he still enables me to say, " Thou, O God, per- 
formeth all things for me! when with admiring 
gratitude, I have exclaimed, " What is man that 
thou shouldest magnify him, and that thou shouldest 
set thy heart upon him r" he has answered my en- 
quiry by telling me, that neither the fowls of the 



ESSAYS, 



air, nor the lilies of the field, are beneath his 
notice ; that a sparrow falleth not to the ground 
without his permission, and that even " the very 
hairs of my head are all numbered." " Fear not, 
thou worm, Jacob," hasjj^n his language, " I 
have chosen thee, and vm '. cast thee away ; I am 
with thee, be not dismaj^jp am thy God. I 
will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, 
I will uphold thee, with the right hand of my 
righteousness." He has purchased my redemption 
with his own blood ; he has raised me up out of 
the dust, to set me with princes, " even with 
the princes of his people." He has adopted me 
not only a3 his son, but as his heir; and, Oh, 
to what a possession am I hastening! he has 
supplied me with grace out of his fulness ; he 
has not only spread a table for me u in the pre- 
sence of mine enemies," but he has brought me 
into his banqueting house, and his banner over 
me has been love. jgsPe is now gone to prepare a 
place for me in hiFiingdom, and he has told me 
that he will come again and receive me unto him- 
self, that where he is, there I may be also. I have 
now liberty of access to his throne ; and he has 
said, " Ask what ye will, and it shall be done 
unto you." When disease has attacked me, he 
has been my physician, " he has strengthened me 
on the bed of languishing," and underneath me 
have been " the everlasting arms " he has given his 
angels charge to encamp around my bed, and bis 
ministering spirits have been commissioned per- 
petually to attend my steps. In the day of battle 
he has « compassed me about with his favor 



320 



ESSAYS. 



as with a shield/' and he has promised never to 
leave, never to forsake me : he hath said, " strength 
shall be given me equal to my day/' and, there- 
fore, to the present moment, my motto is, " Cast 
down but not destra^^" O blessed Redeemer, 
how can I sufficie|^^^Miire thy goodness ! thy 
mercy is from el^^mig, and it shall never 
know a termination. Ye blessed choristers 
of heaven ! ye angels of light ! ye " ministers 
of his that do his pleasure ! ye happy spirits that 
surround his throne and are ever upon the wing 
of swift obedience! ye infant tribes, out of 
whose mouth the Saviour " perfects praise !" 
ye first fruits of his grace ! let my Jesus be the 
Alpha and Omega of your song. I long to join 
you in your blest employ, and to behold him 
" whom having not seen I have loved, and in 
whom, though now I see him not, yet believing, 
I rejoice, with joy unspeakable, and full of 
glory." O Saviour, how oi't&& hast thou said to 
my fearful heart, " be stroiiff fear not.' 5 How 
often hast thou realized that sweet portion of 
thy word, " He giveth power to the faint, and 
to them that have no might he increaseth strength." 
Thou hast been my hiding place ; " thou hast 
preserved me from trouble ; thou hast compassed 
me about " with songs of deliverance." That my 
time might not be heavy upon my hands, thou 
hast provided for me a temporal employ ; and 
that I might not be melancholy when alone, thou 
hast condescended thyself to be my visitor, nay 
to be " with me always." Lest the recollection 
of my past transgressions should cast me down. 



ESSAYS. 



221 



thou hast taken them upon thyself, and thou, who 
" knewest no sin, hast been made sin for me, 
that I might be made the righteousness of God 
in thee/' Does judgment alarm me ? Thou hast 
cast my sins behind thy back ; and thou wilt re- 
member them no more for ever. Who then shall 
lay any thing to my charge*" " It is God that 
justifieth. Who is he that condemneth ? It is 
Christ that died : yea, rather that is risen again, 
who is even at the right hand of God, who also 
maketh intercession for me." Does death affright 
me? thou hast spoiled it of its terrors. Is the valley 
dark and gloomy ? thou hast promised to be with 
me in it, and to give me for a support, thine own 
staff. Wilt thou not then enable me in a dying 
hour to say, " Thanks be unto God, who giveth 
me the victory through my Lord Jesus Christ." 
'Tis unbelief alone that points to the shroud, the 
coffin, and the grave, but artfully conceals from 
view, the lovely paradise beyond. Could I but 
have the vision the apostle had of the heavenly 
kingdom, with him I should be able to say, " I 
have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, 
which is far better." It is my mercy that my 
salvation depends not upon my hopes or my fears, 
but upon better premises, the oath and covenant 
of a God " who cannot lie." Oh, -ye sceptics, 
do ye still ask me, " what is thy Beloved more 
than another's beloved f" behold he is the crown 
and diadem of glory ; " the rose of Sharon ; 
the balm of Gilead ; the pearl of great price ; 
the bright morning star; the chief among tea 
u 2 



£2£ 



ESSAYS. 



thousand; the perfection of beautv; the altogether 
lovely!" 

" My Jesus then shall be ray theme, 

" While in this world I stay, 
" I'll sing my Jesu's lovely name, 

" When all thingPfelse decay, 

" When I appftf in yonde* cloud, 

" With all his favor'd throng, 
*' Then will I sing more sweet, more loud, 

" And Christ shall be my song." 



ON THE IMPROPRIETY OF DANCING BEING 
TAUGHT AT RELIGIOUS SEMINARIES OF 
EDUCATION. 

The advertisements which appear 911 the co- 
vers of certain religious periodical publications, 
from the conductors of different seminaries of 
education, might lead the serious part of the com- 
munity to hope that their children would at such 
establishments, be trained up in the " nurture and 
admonition of the Lord but there appears to 
be an irreconcileable objection to such a hope in 
those schools, where, in the education of children, 
dancing is considered as a necessary accomplish- 
ment : and where, in the musical exercises of 
the scholars, songs and other pieces, sung and 
performed at places of public dissipation, are 
tolerated. — A religious education, in the utmost 
extent of Christian liberty, cannot admit of prac- 
tices so inimical to its self-denying spirit. — Scrip- 
ture has long ago decided that there can be no 
concord between " Christ and Belial," between 



ESSAYS. 



223 



" the temple of God and idols." The pursuits 
and pleasures of the people of God and the people 
of the world are opposed to each other by the 
strong terms of " light and darkness," " righteous- 
ness and unrighteousness :" and the mandate of 
Christ to his followers^is, " love not the world, 
nor the things of the zcorld : If any man love 
the world, the love of the " Father is not in him." 
Now dancing; it must be acknowledged, is not 
merely a childish, but also a worldly amusement ; 
and it is ensnaring, inasmuch as it has an alluring 
tendency to create a false joy, every way opposed 
to the real prosperity and happiness of the soul ; 
as such, Christian parents are reprehensible in 
permitting their children to learn it. The disciples 
of Christ are not to be conformed to the world, 
but to be " transformed in the renewing of their 
minds, that they may prove what is the good and 
acceptable, and perfect will of God," and they 
are to " abstain from every appearance of evil." 
But are these maxims embraced, and this tender- 
ness of conscience manifested by the temporising 
advocates for dancing r — Nor will the specious 
pretence of its being considered, " an indispensable 
accomplishment in the genteeler circles of children" 
be a satisfactory argument in its favor ; for 
where the attainment of an accomplishment en- 
dangers the welfare of the soul, it certainly should 
be relinquished, and " to pretend not to decide on 
the question, whether the danger does not overbalance 
the advantage" argues either a lukewarm spirit in 
the cause of Christ, or a strange inattention to the 
general consequences of this amusement. I have 



224 



ESSAYS. 



been told that at one of these professedly evangelical, 
but really semi-christian establishments, the young 
ladles are taught dancing by a master from the 
Opera. Home!!! and yet on the sabbath attend the 
preaching of the gospel. Such professors surely 
have forgotten that the religion of Jesus Christ 
requires its adherents tx/ " adorn the doctrine of 
God their Saviour in all things" If the amuse- 
ment of dancing could be restricted to the season 
of childhood, and be practised only at school, 
under the vigilant eye of its superintendant, and 
subject to proper regulations, it might be con- 
sidered an innocent recreation, and no objection 
could reasonably be made against it ; but the 
danger and unlawfulness of the art, lies in its being 
a qualification for scenes of after dissipation, to 
which, if grace prevent not, the heart wall as 
naturally be attracted as steel is to the magnet ; 
and it is upon this principle, and upon this alone, 
that it is to be reprobated and condemned. A 
few of these consequences are — late hours, a 
mixed association of the sexes and of character, 
a liability of the passions to be inflamed and 
ensnared, a formation of irregular habits, gene- 
rating a neglect of religious and social duties ; to- 
gether with hasty and imprudent connections, prodi- 
gality in dress, and dissipation of manners. If it be 
asserted that an easy carriage and a polite address 
are the ostensible pleas for children being taught to 
dance, surely these might be obtained by other 
means. How Christian parents, while they sanction 
this baneful accomplishment, can at a throne of 
grace pray, that their children may be kept from 



ESSAYS, 



225 



" the path of the destroyer/' and escape " the 
pollutions which are in the world, " through lust/ 5 
I am at a loss to determine : and how, if they teach 
them the church catechism, they can require them 
to " renounce the pomps and vanities of this 
wicked world/' while they are affording them 
an introduction to scenes of dissipation and folly, 
must be left for them to explain. If it be pleaded, 
that David danced before the ark, that the timbrel 
and the dance are mentioned in the Psalms, and 
moreover that the Wise Man has said, that " there is a 
time to dance I reply, dancing in those days was 
undoubtedly a manifestation of holy rejoicing, and 
was very different from the principle that actuates 
a modern assembly ; to derive, therefore, from the 
Holy Bible, arguments in defence of such unholy 
practices, is a sad profanation and perversion of 
truth, lire scripture declares that, " he that fol- 
lowed! vain persons, is void of understanding / y 
and may not the frequenters of the ball-room be 
fairly classed under that description of character ? 
are they not for the most part, " lovers of pleasure, 
more than lovers of God ?" and are such, the 
suitable companions for children of pious parents ? 
let conscience answer the question and say, whe- 
ther the religious professor would not tremble, 
should death suddenly summon him from the ball- 
room to the judgment bar ! Wherefore, " O my 
soul, come not thou into their secret ! unto their 
assembly, mine honour, be not thou united." 
True faith ever purifies the heart and overcomes 
the world, but while the affections are set " on 
things on the earth/' and not " on things above/' 
apologies for worldly amusements will never be 



226 



ESSAYS. 



wanting ; it therefore becomes the bounden duty 
of all who have the interest of real religion at 
heart, and especially the ministers of Christ, to 
oppose the fallacious arguments of such carnal 
inconsistent professors. With respect to the prac- 
tice of permitting children, in their musical exer- 
cises, to learn the vain songs sung at the Theatre 
and other places of public dissipation, it is equally 
indefensible : it has a tendency to pollute the 
mind, to banish from it every serious impression, 
and to attract the imagination and affections to 
places far more dangerous than houses infected 
with the plague. And finally, if conductors of 
seminaries, from a principle of worldly gain, solicit 
the patronage of the religious public, and so far 
sacrifice principle to mercenary objects, as to 
blend in their system of education, sinful amuse- 
ments with spritual instructions, such conduct 
merits reproof, such hypocrisy deserves exposure, 
and such pretensions call aloud for discountenance 
from all who are truly serious, and who would 
wish their children to be trained up in the way in 
which they should go. 



In the Christian Guardian of December 1810, ap- 
peared the following question : " Is it lawful or expedient 
that the children of truly religious parents, should be taught 
to dance? and is not dancing inconsistent with the vow 
made for such children in baptism, that they should ( re- 
nounce the vanities of this wicked world ?' " 

The following extracts from the replies to the question, 
may not be deemed undeserving the attention of Christian 
parents and instructors; but the author begs leave explicitly 
to declare, that he has no knowledge either of the frarner 
of t|ie question, or of the replies. 



ESSAY S. 



227 



Me. Guardian, 
" I read in my bible, < thou shalt not steal under the 
same sanction I find also, ' be not conformed to this world f 
I bow with equal reverence to each of these precepts, and I 
believe them to be equally my rule of life, as a Christian. 
I also think that plays and balls are among the foremost 
of those pomps and vanities which you and I, and your 
young friends solemnly renounced in our baptismal vow : if 
they are not, I know not what the words ( pomp and vanity' 
mean ; but if they are, I say it is dangerous playing with 
edge tools, and it is hazardous to trifle on the confines of 
sin, We ought to obey God rather than man ; conscience 
is the Lord's witness in our hearts, and her first impressions 
cannot be checked without peril to our souls : tell your 
young friends, with the old Disciple's kind love to them all, 
that occasional conformity to the world, is neither more nor 
less than occasional sin, therefore let them * avoid it, pass 
not by it, turn from it, and pass away/ 

ff Does the world tell you, that these carnal and en- 
snaring amusements are harmless ? go the devil told Eve, 
when he tempted her to taste the forbidden fruit : but he 
was a liar, and he still stands with the fruit in his hand at 
the doors of our dancing-rooms and play-houses, calling put 
to the passengers ' whoso is simple, let him turn in hither/' 
for all is safe and pleasant within ; but Satan is still a liar 
and a murderer as he was from the beginning, 

(< I perceive, Mr. Guardian, that one of your correspond- 
ents has put a question about the lawfulness and expediency of 
truly religious parents having their children taught to dance; 
you see what my opinion is from what I have already been 
saying. Religious parents ought to know better than others, 
the danger of giving their children qualifications, and ex- 
citing in there, propensities, which afterwards they would 
lament to see in exercise; Sir, it is your province to be the 
guardian of family peace and consistency, and you have 
lived long enough in the world, as well as I have done, to 
see the numberless evils arising from the harmless amusement 
of dancing parties. What with hasty and imprudent h> 



228 



ESSAYS. 



timacies, unhappy marriages, broken-hearted parents, and 
corrupted children ; what with levity, debauchery, pride 
and vanity, loss of time, waste of affections, and indulgence 
of sinful passions; I say, sir, you, and every faithful fol- 
lower of Jesus Christ, ought to bear your testimony against 
a class of recreations, as the world calls them, which I am 
sure the wise author of Ecclestastes would say, was vanity 
and vexation of spirit. 

" Sir, your children and mine, and your readers' children 
also, should be taught that light has no communion with 
darkness; neither has Christ any concord with Belial. I 
see and expect little more satisfaction in these days, from 
the professors of religion encouraging revels and dancings, - 
than of old time Moses experienced, when the people of 
Israel " sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play, 
to sing, and to dance' 7 round the golden calf that Aaron 
had made ; and I have no more desire, Mr. Guardian, to 
see my daughter make a dancing exhibition of her person 
for the amusement of men, than I have to see the head of 
John the Baptist bleeding in a charger. See Exod. xxxii, 
and Matt. xiv. 

" Let the half worldly and neutral professors, think and 
act as they please ; I must speak my mind: Serious pro- 
fessors had no doubt or hesitation about these things 
when I was young; and I am sorry the time is arrived 
when they have ; let them love Christ more, and these 
follies will quickly vanish away. 

" An Old Disciple^ 

Christian Guardian, Feb. 1811. 



Mr. GrAEBiAN, 

"I would ask, is there indeed no danger from the youth 
of each sex meeting in mixed dances? Does not this amuse- 
ment tend to levity and intoxication of the spirits, and is 
not all edifying and spiritual conversation banished as a 
thing quite unseasonable. V>~e often lament the failure 
of this in our general intercourse with religious persons; 



ESSA'i 5. 



229 



but we do not on such occasions intend to banish it; and 
here lies the great difference, for in the amusement pro- 
posed, it is systematically excluded. One end would in- 
deed be effected by these meetings; the forming of mutual 
attachments ; but surely a dancing partnership is not the 
sera which two devout and holy persons would pitch 
upon to commence a partnership for life ! The assembly 
and the ball- room are, indeed, the grand legalised marts of 
matrimonial traffic for the fashionable world ; but who 
would wish to see them become such amongst characters 
who have renounced the world? I cannot but lament with 
you and the good ' old Disciple,' our approach to a species 
of evangelical religion, not, thank God, radically defective, 
but refined and guarded, and adapted to the taste of the 
day, so as in my humble estimation to fall greatly below 
the standard of a Walker, an Adam, or a Milner. I 
will not say, that in these and other excellent men of their 
standing, there might not be something of indiscriminate 
bluntness, arising, no doubt, from a holy jealousy of ' going 
about to please men,' 6 lest they should not prove to be 
the servants of Christ;' but I fear that we are now verging 
to an opposite and much more dangerous extreme." 

Christian Guardian, for April, 1311. 



" Dancing (under restrictions) may be conducive to health 
and to that graceful deportment, the acquisition of which 
is certainly desirable in the genteeler walks of life; but 
that these advantages are not to be obtained in any other 
way,, I suppose no one will assert: I allow too, that to 
argue against the use of a thing, where its utility is ob- 
vious and great, from its abuse, when the latter is casual 
and trivial, would be uncandid and narrow-minded. But 
when all who have had any experience in life, could point 
out to their younger friends, not a few among their ac- 
quaintances who have fallen martyrs to the dance ; and 
still more, who, having set their faces heaven-ward, have 
declined from the ways of godliness, from their attachment 
to this amusement, under the <juise of its innocence: thim"? 
x 



230 



ESSAYS. 



being thus, can we as Christians, concede that its possible 
usefulness more than counterbalances its almost unavoid- 
able evils? Innocent indeed this amusement might be^ 
were human nature in a state of innocence; but alas! 
every experienced Christian, I conceive, knows too well 
' the plague of his own heart/ to be willing thus 6 to 
enter into temptation/ Naturally lively and social, I am 
far from being an enemy to recreations really innocent, 
but I know but too well the snares to which such a dis- 
position is exposed by gay company and entertainments. 
Those, bowever, who seek a better country, must be con- 
tented to lose cast among the world of the fashionable and 
the frivolous ; for of such is not 6 the kingdom of heaven/ " 

Christian Guardian, for May, 1811. 



" To the trite observation that i dancing conduces 
to health/ it may be remarked that to dancing many have 
fallen victims ; so on the one hand, when it is pleaded in 
its favour that it conduces to health, it is on the other hand 
but fair to state, that in many cases it proves ruinous to 
the constitution. 

" Dancing is, I contend, of the world ; and Satan is 
called the god of this world ; it must be then most dan- 
gerous for Christians to touch, taste, or handle those things 
that are of the world, since its pollutions, customs, and 
vanities are under the dominion and controul of Satan, 
and subservient to his will. 

" Dancing appears a fashionable introduction to ( the 
lusts of the eye, and the pride of life/ but 6 these are not 
of the Father/ Besides, are not the children of pro- 
fessors who learn it, led to mix with other children that 
are brought up without God in the world? When we re- 
flect then on the susceptibility of young minds, the notice 
they take of every word and every trifling occurrence, can 
we wonder if they return home from one of their little 
routs, tinctured with the manners and conversation of 
their young, but irreligious associates. .And how ready 
will they in future, when curbed in their follies, plead it* 



ESSAYS. 



231 



dieir own defence the example of such children. Let 
parents take heed, (I speak to them that are religious,) 
of < piercing themselves through with many sorrows/ for 
they know not in what time nor in what hour the seeds of 
many hurtful lusts may be sown. 

Christian Guardian, for August, 1811. 



To the foregoing observations I beg leave to subjoin the 
following extracts from the Rev. Rowland Hill's Warning to 
Professors, p. 48. 

" The general concomitant amusement of the card- 
table is that of the ball-room : a very few words will b« 
enough upon this subject. 

" One would suppose it impossible that such mad, wan- 
ton, foolish revels as these could ever meet with a single 
apologist who bears the Christian name, by way of proving 
those to be innocent amusements. Can any language ex- 
ceed what must be the natural consequences when such 
a promiscuous intercourse is kept up between the parties 
themselves; while their dress, their different attitudes, 
their light and next to filthy conversation, is all so com- 
pletely calculated to kindle every flame that is dangerous 
and impure. 

u The natural levity of the human mind is one of its 
greatest evils. Is it fit that Christians should give their 
aid to feed this unhappy principle ; whereby every thought 
which is profitable and good is far banished from the 
mind; and which, consequently, leads to a disposition 
the most pernicious and destructive in every point of 
view. 

" Is it possible that the professor of religion, can so far 
deceive himself as to suppose, we have a licence to play 
all these foolish tricks, because the Wise Man says ' there 
is a time to dance/* contrary to the whole tenor of that 



* " The superficial reader of the Bible might as well observe, 
we have a right to commit the most atrocious acts of violence, be- 



232 



ESSAYS. 



book which is designed to prove, that ' all is vanity and 
vexation of spirit; 7 excepting that which he tells us is the 
conclusion of the whole matter, ' to fear God, and to keep 
his commandments, as being the whole of man?' I ques- 



cause the Wise Man begins with this remark, ' there is a lime to 
kill*' for the most violent oppressors, even to murder, are 'per- 
mitted to find a time for their horrid crimes. But I confess, that 
it was not with a little surprise that I have found the above pas.^age 
quoted by professors, as though these romping silly amusements 
were sanctioned by the word of God itself; it may he necessary, 
therefore, to give the pure meaning of the text, or the passage at 
large. 

" All things are under the wise agency and controul of God, 
and while a time is allowed or permitted for ail events, whether 
good or bad, necessary or otherwise; the Lord, by his superiiw 
tending providence, orders ail things for his own glory, even the 
wickedness, folly, and < wrath of man shall praise him, and the re- 
mainder of wrath shall he restrain. 5 " Psalm Ixxvi. 10. 

" But that we may further see how far the penitential Solomon 
was an advocate for the modern fooleries of the ball-room, let us 
hear hira a little further. 

" ' It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to 
the house of feasting ; for that is the end of all men ;. and the 
living will lay it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter; for by 
the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The 
heart of the wise is in the house of mourning ; but the heart of fools 
is in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise 
than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of 
thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is 
vanity. 5 Fxcles* vii. 2 — 7. 

" Now if such were the sentiments of Solomon respecting the 
merriment of the world, while he is still to be quoted as an advo- 
cate for our sort of modern dancings; never did a wise man 
write so much like a fool, while he can thus palpably contradict 
himself. 

" After these remarks, they who wish to go to the Bible to 
prove theinnocency of attending the ball-room, may, if they please, 
bring forward the character of holy David, while in his sacred zeal 
for God and his glory, according to the custom of the times, he 
danced before the ark ; and see how many of the same sort of 
young holy Docids are to be found in our modern ball-rooms, as 
proper partners for the trilling young misses of the day." 



ESSAYS. 



tion if these giddy careless things, who are thus employed 
in such a wanton waste of their precious time, have any 
thing to do either with the fear of God or with keeping 
his commandments, as being the whole end of man's ex- 
istence, before our infinitely pure and holy Lord. 

" But some parents say, 4 It may be necessary, at least, 
to have our children taught some decent and graceful at- 
titudes when they enter a room/ 

" Yes ; and while as much as this may be necessary, 
more than this will prove exceedingly dangerous. — When 
parents allow their children to learn the silly business of 
dancing, they will find their own way, in course, to the 
ball-room, that they may shew off the airs they have been 
taught to practise at the boarding-school." 



u To suppose," says Mr. Hill, in his Expostulatory Letter 
to Mr. Tattersall, " that one whose conversation is in 
heaven, who is born from above, born of the Spirit, can be 
amused at exhibitions only calculated to dissipate and cor- 
rupt ; or that the silly amusements of a ball-room can de- 
light, where he is to skip, and dance, and romp about at the 
tune of a fiddle, like a buffoon or a merry-andrew, for 
several hours together, and in an expensive dress as unfit 
for the mortified Christian as the occupation itself- — to sup- 
pose that such are the innocent amusements that holy 
penitents and mortified Christians can enjoy, how prepos- 
terous the idea ! 

" O the magic powers of this wonderful expression, 
4 innocent amusements? like Moses's serpent, only take it by 
the tail, and it at once commences an innocent wand." 



The Rev. Mr. Burder, in his excellent sermon entitled 
Lawful Amusements, says, " It may be observed, in reading 
those numerous trials for adultery which disgrace our 

x 2 



234 



ESSAYS. 



country, and pollute our newspapers, that not unfrequently 
the criminal intercourse took its rise from the ball or the 
assembly-room ; and it is equally _true, that a great number 
of imprudent and unhappy marriages may be traced to the 
same source; nor is it a small objection to this kind of 
amusement that it is usually enjoyed at those midnight 
hours which nature and religion direct to be otherwise em- 
ployed ; and in how r many unhappy cases, has a sudden 
transition from the heated ball-room to the cold air, proved 
the occasion of disease and death. 

" It is commonly pleaded that dancing is an useful ac- 
complishment, and almost essentially necessary in genteel 
life, that young persons may acquire a graceful manner of 
behaviour. That this advantage may bed erived from it 
must certainly be admitted, and many learn to dance with 
no other view; but is not the danger greater than the ad- 
vantage ? And may not that advantage be gained by suit- 
able instructions given for that sole purpose ? I have been 
surprized, that in these inventive days, the conductors of 
religious schools have not made this their aim. Where the 
danger is so great, and the acquirement becomes an ad- 
mission ticket to the haunts of gaiety and dissipation, pious 
and prudent parents would do well to dispeuse with this 
branch of polite education, rather than risk the morals of a 
beloved child F— 



A PARENT'S REFLECTIONS. 

Every thing that God does must be important: 
with a word he created the universe, and with his 
breath, millions of immortal souls ! " Who is a 
God like unto our God;" " glorious in holiness, 
fearful in praises, continually doing wonders." 
Creation attests his power, but man displays his 



ESSAV S. 



image and his grace ; creation is the scaffolding, 
but man is " the habitation of God through the 
Spirit;" hence, the little infant becomes an object 
of importance, not only as it is " fearfully and 
wonderfully made," but as it is the depository of 
a jewel more valuable than the whole world, 

" Helpless immortal! insect infinite !" 

more feeble than the brutes which perish, yet 
destined to survive the wreck of worlds ; born to 
behold the stars fall from their orbits, the sun be- 
come extinct, and time itself expire. I look at 
thee, while slumbering on thy mother's lap, and my 
heart glows with love ; a thousand tender feelings 
rush into my mind, and hope and fear alternately 
possess my spirits : here lies, (methmks,) in embryo, 
an heir of glory, perhaps a son of perdition! A 
Josias, perhaps an Absalom! A John, perhaps a 
Judas! A being who will never cease to live, and 
whose existence will be a blessing or a curse to it 
self for ever and ever. Solemn thought! and still 
more solemn, when I consider, that b) nature, all 
are " dead in trespasses and sins that such is the 
dreadful apostacy of the human race, that " they 
go astray from the womb, speaking lies," that 
" there is none that doeth gooa, no, not one 5" and 
that a wonder far greater chaa, that which was dis- 
played at its birth, must be eiiected, if it be- 
comes " an heir of God," and " a joint heir with 
Christ." Am I a Christian parent, and can I be 
insensible to the importance and responsibility of 
such a charactei : Does not God say to me as 



236 



ESSAYS. 



Pharoah's daughter did to the mother of Moses, 
" Take this child, and nurse it for me ?" Do I know 
the value of my own soul, and can I forget my 
Ishmael, when I approach a throne of grace, bom 
into such a world, and with such a nature ? shall I 
be careful to provide for its temporal support, and 
yet be negligent of its eternal welfare ? What line 
of conduct do I henceforth mean to pursue? 
briefly, to set no evil thing before its eyes, and to 
enforce the instructions I give it, by my own ex- 
ample. Alas ! " who is sufficient for these things ?" 
what prayer, what watchfulness, what circum- 
spection is necessary ! where shall I find encourage- 
ment, but in the promise, " My grace is sufficient 
for thee." But it may be, after all my efforts, 
nature may break through every restraint of pa- 
rental indulgence or discipline ; and I may be 
called to the painful, yet not uncommon lot, of 
having the child I have nourished in my bosom, 
become a worm in the gourd of every enjoyment ; 
a serpent to sting my very vitals. — Let me 
not then fix my love too much upon it : disease 
may destroy it ; disappointment may blast my 
fondest hope respecting it. May I leave all with 
that God who " performeth all things for me," 
and attend to the counsel of his word, which, for 
my happiness, directs me to give him my heart, 
to set my affections upon things above, and which: 
asks of me, and of every Christian parent, the soul- 
searching and seasonable question, " what agree- 
ment hath the temple of God with idols ?" 



ESSAYS, 



237 



ON PRAYER. 

What can be more rational, independant of 
the advantage with which it is attended, than that 
the creature should worship the Creator ? and yet 
how many live in the habitual neglect of this 
essential duty! they partake of the bounties of 
God's providence from day to day, and. owe their 
being and preservation to his goodness, yet they 
neither supplicate his protection, nor fear his cUs- 
pleasure. But awful is their state, and dangerous 
their condition, and much reason have they to 
apprehend that God will say to them another day, 
" Because I called and ye refused, I stretched out 
my hand and ye regarded not, but ye have set at 
nought my counsel and would none of my re- 
proof ; I also will laugh at your calamity, I will 
mock when your fear cometh. When your fear 
cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh 
as a whirlwind ; when distress and anguish cometh 
upon you, then shall ye call upon me but I will 
not answer, ye shall seek me early but ye shall not 
find me." When we reflect upon the dignity and 
majesty of Jehovah, and consider that such is his 
power that " he weigheth the mountains in scales, 
and the hills in a balance," that " he taketh up the 
isles as a very little thing that " he counteth the 
nations as the drop of a bucket, and the inhabi- 
tants thereof as the small dust upon the balance," 
" as nothing and less than nothing and vanity." 
When we notice his goodness in creation as ex- 
hibited in the varied and beautiful aspects of na- 



238 



ESSAYS. 



ture ; in the regular succession of the seasons ; in 
the constant fulfilment of the ancient promise, 
that " so long as the earth remaineth, seed time 
and harvest cold and heat, summer and winter, day 
and night should not cease/' When we take also 
into the account, that man is God's vicegerent upon 
earth, that he has had delegated to his government 
" the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and 
whatsoever passeth through the path of the sea 
that " all things are put under his feet," and 
fcat an infinite value has been stamped upon 
his soul by the Redeemer's blood being shed for 
its redemption, what ingratitude must mark the 
conduct of that man who acknowledges not the 
necessity, the rationality, and the advantages of 
prayer ! Who that takes a view of the stu- 
pendous works of creation, and investigates the 
beauty, harmony, and precision, even of its mi- 
nutest parts, but must be constrained to acknow- 
ledge that the tender mercies of God are over 
all his works, and that the earth is full of his 
goodness. The elegance and accuracy displayed 
in the foliation of a flower, the construction of 
the almost imperceptible animalcule, the ad- 
mirable adjustment of every part of the human 
body, to subserve the comfort and convenience of 
man; the order and regularity of the animal 
and vegetable tribes, and the amazing wonders 
of the planetary system, extending throughout the 
immensity of space, surely must constrain every 
reflecting mind to say with the Psalmist, " The 
heavens declare the glory of God, and the firma- 
ment sheweth his handy work; day unto day 



ESSAYS, 



239 



uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth 
knowledge : he maketh the out-goings of the morn- 
ing and evening to rejoice, he crowneth the year 
with his goodness, and his paths drop fatness ; they 
drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, and 
the little hills rejoice on every side, the pastures 
are clothed with flocks, the vallies are covered 
over with corn, they shout for joy, they also sing;" 
and shall man who is in himself an epitome of 
the power and goodness of God, be the only 
silent object in creation : how fearfully, and won- 
derfully is he made, the more minutely the human 
frame is dissected, the more cause the infidel 
has to be abashed, and the philosopher to be 
convinced of the rationality of true devotion : the 
night as well as the dav evinces the attention of 
God to the happiness of man, lest the light of 
the latter should interrupt his slumbers ; a veil is 
beneficently drawn over creation, and " so he giveth 
his beloved sleep by these and innumerable 
other motives, he would attract our affections, 
secure our esteem, and draw from us the homage 
due to his excellent character and perfections, 
and to whom should we be tributary if not to 
a the Father of our mercies and the God of 
our comforts ? ,? Can it be derogatory to the 
creature to confess his dependance upon the 
Creator, and to supplicate his favour? is it not 
a proof of allegiance, which, as subjects, we owe 
to our king? which, as pensioners, we owe to 
our benefactor? which, as children, we owe to 
our father ? for what purpose is intelligence and 
reason vouchsafed, and a capacity imparted to 



240 



ESSAYS. 



us above the brutes that perish, if not to " know- 
God and to enjoy him for ever:" and this can 
only be secured by intercourse and communion 
with him; how great also are the advantages of 
prayer! 1st, It affords support under trouble, 
and who in such a world as this is exempt from 
sorrow ? where is the eye that never glistened 
with a tear, or the heart that never experienced 
affliction. What a relief has prayer often afforded 
the burdened spirit ! consolations have been im- 
parted equal to the heaviest trial, and the promise 
has been fulfilled " Thou shalt keep him in perfect 
peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because 
he trusteth in thee." While the suppliant has, it 
may be, under the loss of dear and valuable con- 
nections, mournfully exclaimed, " lover and friend 
hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance 
into darkness he has found from peculiar mani- 
festations of the Lord's presence and blessing, 
that though earthly streams of comfort have been 
dried up, the fountain of true blessedness has 
been still flowing, and there he has been refreshed 
and invigorated to pursue his journey through the 
wilderness. 2dly, It is an evidence of grace, and 
as such it must be valued by every Christian. 
Prayer is the breath of the new born .soul, it can 
no more exist without sensible communion with 
God, than the body can be supported without 
food ; hence there never was a Christian that did 
not live in the habitual exercise of prayer ; others 
may have a form of devotion, but he enjoys its 
spirit ; a sense of his necessities, and a conscious- 
ness of his daily mercies, urges him to frequent 



ESSAYS. 



241 



a throne of grace ; and his heart is often engaged 
in mental communion with God, when his hands 
are busily employed in his lawful occupation, 
by prayer he " finds grace to help in every time 
of need/' it heightens all his comforts, and sus- 
tains him under all his crosses ; others when 
afflictions press heavy upon them may call upon 
God, but the Christian has liberty of access to 
him at all times, through Christ Jesus, and h& 
knows too well the value of the intimacy to 
neglect securing the advantage and honour of 
such an alliance. 3dly, It is connected with 
real pleasure. The Christian can say with the 
Psalmist from heartfelt experience, " it is good 
for me to draw near unto God!" how often 
has his closet proved a Bethel to his soul, there 
he has had a foretaste of the felicity of heaven, 
and for a season has forgot the sins and sorrows 
of mortality; in some peculiar periods of his 
experience such have been his enjoyments that he 
has been ready to exclaim 

" My willing soul would stay, 

" In such a frame as this, 
" And sweetly sing herself away 

u To everlasting bliss." 

Such rapturous sensations, it must be confessed, 
are not ordinarily experienced, for they would 
incapacitate the mind for secular concerns, never- 
theless a life of prayer is always attended with 
pleasure, and occasionally it produces " a joy 
unspeakable and full of glory." 4thly, It includes 
in it safety, for God is the shield and refuge 

Y 



242 



ESSAYS. 



of his people, a very present help in trouble ; 
and he has promised that " no weapon that is 
formed against them shall prosper, and that every 
tongue that riseth up against them in judgment he 
will condemn." The Christian therefore may throw 
down the gauntlet and say, " If God be for us, who 
can be against us!" What has not prayer effected! it 
secured Daniel from the paw and ravenous appetite 
of the lions ; it quenched for Shadrach, Meshach, 
and Abednego, the seven times heated furnace of 
Nebuchadnezzar; it converted the dungeon where 
Paul and Silas were confined, into a temple for Je- 
hovah's praise ; it unrivetted the chains and opened 
the prison doors for Peter, and time would 
fail to enumerate the blessings it has procured 
for the church and people of God in all ages. 
Lastly, It dispels the fear of death, and it 
brightens the prospect of eternity. It enables the 
Christian to say, when heart and flesh are fail- 
ing, " God is the strength of my heart, and my 
portion for ever," yea, " though I walk through 
the valley of the shadow of death I will fear 
no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy 
staff they comfort me." So true is the promise 
of God's word, " They that wait upon the 
Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount 
upon the wings of eagles, they shall run and not 
be weary, they shall walk and not faun," and good 
is the counsel or the Psalmist, " Wait on the 
Lord and he skali strengthen thine heart, zcait I 
say on the Lord" 



END OF THE ESSAYS. 



( 243 } 



PART THE FOURTH, 



POEMS. 



A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT TO THE MEMORY OF AN 
AFFECTIONATE MOTHER* 

As the fair ilow'ret blossoms in the morn, 

And oft at noon, is of its beauties shorn; 

So frail the tenure of her modest worth, 

So short her virtues bloom'd, who gave me birth. 

The pale consumption's sure, but lingering pow'r, 

Nipp'd, at an early date, the tender flower. 

She mark'd its near approach, without a sigh, 

Mildly resign'd, alike, to live or die : 

With sweet composure, and in smiles serene, 

She calmly quitted every mortal scene ; 

And the soft sigh bespoke the dawn of bliss, 

The entrance of the saint, to happiness. 

Oh, may I tread those steps her pattern taught ! 

And my last hour, with equal peace, be fraught : 

Then, though in youth, death call me from this scene, 

Resign'd, Fll neither murmur, nor complain ; 

But mildly bear the all-afflicting rod, 

Convinc'd, that nought but good, can come from God. 



344 



POEMS* 



ON OBSEBVING A FLY IN A BASO^ 
OF MILK, 

M Pgok little captive, fluttering fly, 

H \ oil strive in vain, in vain you try, 

u To gain the milky ocean's shore y 

** Your feeble efforts seem just o'er. 

u You look around, but all in vain, 

M No friendly stranger sees your pain, 

" No gen'rous hand's outstretch'd to save. 

w The helpless insect from its grave. 

u Methinks, I hear it plaintive cry ? 

" I wish to live, and, with a sigh, 

u Exclaim, that life is just as dear, 

** As 'tis to those, who mortals are. 

M Well, be it so, poor little fly, 

" I've cast on thee, a pitying eye ; 

u And I will strive to ease thy pain. 

" And give thee liberty again : 

- u I'll quickly free thee from thy snare, 

u And thou shalt taste thy native air/' 

To the Supreme's omniscient eye, 

Man's but a little, feeble fly, 

The flutt'ring insect of an hour, 

A budding, blooming; fading flower. 

Since heav'n to us such pity shews, 

We ought to feel for others woes, 

Nor e'er disdain a life to save, 

Which God himself in mercy gave, 



POEMS. 



THE WISH. 



Greatness, nor wealth, may I require, 
Each lofty thought, each vain desire, 
Take far away from me ! 
Restrain my wishes, be my store, 
Greater in virtue than in ore, 
Each good deriv'd from thee. 

Quickly will riches fly away, 
Useful but for a short-liv'd day; 
Senseless the honours titles give, 
Save we for nobler pleasures live ; 
Each moment then with hoarded care, 
Let me expend in praise and prayer, 
Let me celestial transports share. 

Then Hi not envy lord or king, 
Unhappiness their titles bring ; 
No real pleasure can they know. 
In all their vain parade and shew ; 
May I from heaven's exhaustless store, 
Reap joys which never will be o'er. 



TO THE MEMORY OF A CHRISTIAN 
FRIEND. 

Why are our harps upon the willows hung ? 

Why does the tear of sorrow trickle down ? 
When hymns of rapture are by angels sung, 

That one more soul to endless bliss has flown I 
Y 2 



U6 



POEMS. 



Nature, however, still must urge her power. 

And souls united by affection's tie, 
Can't bid adieu, at death's all-painful hour, 

Without the farewell tribute of— a sigh. 
Yet, what is death ? — 'tis but a gentle sleep, 

To those who have a hope beyond the grave ; 
A state,—- wherein Christ's pilgrims cease to v weep, 

A port, — where no more rolls the boist'rous wavr, 
Jesus hath triumph'd o'er the gates of hell,— 

And shall not all his followers conqu'rors be ? 
Shall they not sing his love, his victories tell r 

Shall they not all his matchless glories see r 
Yes, for there's not an atom of the earth, 

That once partook of life's existing power, 
But shall again revive, and have a birth, 

To pain or bliss, at judgment's hastening hour. 
Then will the Saviour, whom our friend ador-'d, 

Own all her labours, and approve her love ; 
Then in her God, she'll see her friend and Lord, 

And with him go to the bright realms above : 
There happy, far beyond frail mortals view, 

May we, through grace, be sharers of her joy ! 
There may we meet, no more to say adieu, 

And taste of bliss which knows of no alloy. 



UNBELIEF PREJUDICIAL TO THE SOVh's 
HAPPINESS. 

Were I but sure that at the eventful hour, 

When this poor frame must feel death's fatal power, 

Angels would whisper peace, and God would own 

A rebel vile as me, to be his son: 

Could I believe, that Jesus then would sayy 

" With blood divine ? I've wash'd thy sins away 



1 

POEMS. 



247 



How gladly would I quit a vale of tears, 

Where I'm so oft perplex'd with doubts and fears. 

Yet say my soul, 'midst all thy sore distress, 

Where dost thou look for peace and happiness ? 

Can aught this world bestows thy wants supply ? 

Ah no, to broken cisterns thou'lt not fly. 

Jesus alone, can calm thy troubled breast, 

And bid it re-assume its wonted rest. 

Oh, for a martyr's zeal ! a seraph's love ! 

That I, o'er every sin, may conqu'ror prove : 

And yet not I, for it is all of grace, 

And to my Lord alone, shall be the praise. 

Let not, O Saviour, my poor worthless heart, 

Ere play the hypocrite, or traitor's part ; 

Oh, let me ne'er forsake the God I love, 

But act as one, whose birth is from above. 

Bid, dearest Lord, my passions all be still, 

Bind them, in sweet subjection to thy will, 

And let the Comforter reveal to me, 

That all I want, dear Saviour, is in thee. 

To love thee more, — be this my ardent care ! 

To call thee mine, — be this my constant pray'r I 



TO THE MEMORY OF MRS*. ADAMS. 

If worth departed ever claim'd a tear, 

Strict truth demands it, o'er Eliza's bier. 

If manners form'd to captivate and please, 

Grace without study, nature's winning ease ; 

A mind, that sought no pleasure to possess, 

But what it reap'd from other's happiness ; 

A heart, that knew the warmth of friendship's glow, 

And shar'd with sympathy, the stranger's woe ; 

If these fair graces are in angels shewn, 

She was an angel-— for they were her own. 



248 



POEMS. 



But ah ! too envious, of the bounties given, 

By the kind hand of all-indulgent heav'n, 

Death seiz'd the boon, and veil'd its valued prize, 

Far from th' enraptur d view of mortal eyes. 

Yet know, stern tyrant, that this lovely flower, 

Is but thy captive, for a transient hour, 

Fades, but to bloom with more resplendent power ! 

Too tender to sustain life's boisterous gale, 

Twas an exotic, in this dreary vale. 

What, tho' in ruin now it seem to lie, 

It blossoms in the realms of bliss on high ; 

For the pure spark of animated flame, 

That once inhabited this clay-cold frame, 

Released from earth, has wing'd its way above, 

And dwells in its own native heaven of love. 



ON THE SABBATH. 

Welcome, thou day of heavenly rest, 
To me above all others blest ; 
Fore-runner thou of joys above, 
Where all is harmony and love. 
On thy return how oft I've found, 
While list'ning to the gospel's sound, 
A solace sweet to every care, 
A sure support against despair. 
Jesus, at thy enhVning name, 
New powers possess my mortal frame, 
A sacred rapture fires my soul, 
My thoughts ascend above the pole; 
I view, by faith, the glorious height, 
Where angels dwell in realms of light, 
And earth seems vanished from my sight ; 



POEMS. 



No more I prize its glittering gems, 
Its boasted joys my heart condemns, 
And haply loose from ail its charms, 
I refuge take in Jesu's arms. 
Blest moments of supreme delight ! 
I would delay thy sudden flight; 
I would prolong thy welcome stay, 
Till time should change to endless day. 
I would, O Saviour! still enjoy, 
The heavenly, heartfelt, real joy, 
And at thy feet my hours beguile, 
And find a heaven in thy smile. 
But ah ! too great, this bliss for me, 
While shackled with mortality; 
A few more suns, a few more years> 
A few more sighs, a few more tears, 
And I shall see my Jesu's face, 
And triumph in his conquering grace. 
With millions more around the throne, 
Our grateful song will be but one; 
Its burden this — the Father's love 
That brought us to his heav'n above; 
The Son's electing work of grace, 
Who died to save a rebel race ; 
And the blest Spirit's sacred powers, 
Who witness'd oft that Christ was ours. 
I hail the long-expected morn, 
When doubts and fears will all be gone, 
When every conflict will be o'er, 
And I shall gain that happy shore, 
Where Satan can no more deceive, 
Nor hateful sin my bosom grieve ; 
Where joys eternal will be mine, 
And all the praise, my Jesus, thine. 



250 



POEMS. 



LAURA. 



List ! hear you not that tolling bell ? 

It is poor Laura's funeral knell ; 

Than whom, the fairest flower in May, 

Ne'er shone more bright, nor look'd more ga? 

The rose just ting'd with modest grace, 

Its blushing beauties, o'er her face, 

Whilst every action form'd to please, 

Was graceful elegance and ease. 

Poor maid, the flowers that deck thy tomb. 

In silence speak thy early doom, 

Of joy, themselves impart a ray, 

As transient as thy short-liv'd day. 

There honey-suckles, jessamines, 

Roses, pinks, and columbines, 

Lilies pale, and violets blue, 

Flowery tribes of varied hue, 

Bloom and fade, and seem to say, 

" Behold the term of Laura's day L" 

The dewy flow'ret found in tears, 

Each morn shall weep her tender years, 

While myrtles, planted by her hand, 

As fond mementos still shall stand : 

Their verdure ne'er had grac'd the earth, 

Had she not rear d them from their birth, 

But weeds, and here and there, a thorn, 

Proclaim their lovely mistress gone. 

All nature fades upon my view, 

And seems to wear a sable hue : 

Whether I pass the lonely vale, 

Or listen to the nightingale, 



POEMS. 



Each object strikes the tender spring, 
Of pity's soft, magnetic string, 
In friendship's ear they seem to swell, 
With notes of woe — with Laura's knell. 



THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 

Triumphant Saviour, glory of my song, 
To thee what gratitude, what thanks belong ! 
How shall a sinful worm attempt thy praise, 
And sing thy matchless love in mortal lays ! 
Friend of the friendless, soother of distress, 
Sorrow's unfailing guide to happiness ! 
Fain would my heart, with glowing warmth aspire. 
To sound thy praise upon the muse's lyre ! 
But insufficient are the choirs above, 
With notes divine, to celebrate thy love ! 
Release the pris'ner, give the afflicted ease, 
Discharge the captive, cure the sore disease, 
Give to distress the miser's hoarded wealth, 
Or to pale sickness, sweet restoring health ; 
Snatch off from slavery, th' inhuman chain, 
Conduct the negro to his home again ; 
And all these images but faintly shew, 
The debt of love and gratitude I owe. 



THE CONTRAST. 

Behold the Christian at the hour of death ; 
Calm and resign'd, he yields to God his breath; 
Immortal hope assuages ev'ry pain, 
With him to " live is Christ, to die is gain f 



252 



POEMS. 



And soon released, his spirit takes its flight 
From scenes of woe^ to realms of pure delight ; 
Where, an eternity of perfect joys, 
His time, his love, nis powers, his praise employs-. 
What though fond relatives stand round in view, 
To take a last farewell, a fond adieu ; 
And a soft sigh, with anxious care supprest, 
Escape the confines of the struggling breast: 
Faith even here, will tranquillize the scene, 
And soothe the hour of death, with joys serene. 
But, ah, the contrast ! see the sinner's bed, 
At his last hour, behold him, full "of dread ! 
Conscience long numb'd, awakes with sov'reign power, 
And keen remorse points to each mispent hour. 
Just as the stream, arrested in its course, 
v Hushes when loosen'd, with redoubled force, 
• So this tormentor, lulPd no more by art, 
Betrays each latent evil of the heart. 
Mem'ry, the noble friend of genuine truth, 
Points, with a steady hand, to mispent youth; 
■Shews age mature, in ripen'd folly drest, 
And ev'ry virtue banish'd from the breast. 
Bitter remembrance of those guilty hours, 
Gives to the arm of death terrific powers, 
And proves, what daring sceptics can't deny, 
€t Men may live fools, but fools they cannot die." 



BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED. 
2 Ephesians, 8 verse. 

Be banish'd each distressing fear, 
That in my soul takes place ! 

An all-sufficient God is near, 
He saves thee — by his grace. 



POEMS. 



253 



Review his matchless love to thee, 
Thou oft hast seen his face: 

Behold him on the bloody tree, 
He saves thee — by his grace. 

Shall unbelief ere doubt his love, 
Since held in his embrace ? 

He gives thee joy, and bids thee prove. 
He saves thee — by his grace. 

Art thou unfit for such a guest, 
Does guilt thy vileness trace ? 

? Tis love, not merit, is the test, 
He saves thee — by his grace. 

All things for thee do work for good, 
Then run thy Christian race, 

With zeal and courage, look to God, 
He saves thee — by his grace. 



•SERIOUS REFLECTIONS, 

I live,— one instant, and the present scene, 

To me may be, as tho' it ne'er had been ; 

A sudden stroke may break life's brittle thread, 

And fix my dwelling ? mong the silent dead. 

What then is life ?~~ a vapour, which awhile, 

A little while appeareth, full of toil i 

A shadow,— which with haste escapes away ; 

The morning's dew ;~~a short-Iiv'd winter's day. 

Not so th' immortal soul,— that cannot die, 

Tho' from its frail abode it soon must fiy. 

When death shall burst the bond that binds to earth, 

And give to its existence, a new birth ; 

Will it ascend to the high climes of bliss, 

Or sink for ever in helFs dark abyss ? 

z 



254 



POEMS. 



If found in Jesus, it will have a place, 
Among those shining miracles of grace, 
That owe their heav'n to God's unchanging love. 
Who fix'd ere time began, their state above : 
But if found trampling on his sacred blood, 
Careless of both his sceptre and his rod, 
In league and love with ev'ry baneful sin, 
That serves to strengthen Satan's reign within ; 
Like Felix, it will tremble and turn pale, 
And its own immortality bewail. 

Search me, O God ! and try my fro ward heart ! 

Know thou my thoughts ! and bid each sin depart f 

Lead me in ways of everlasting peace, 

And grant to ev'ry grace, a large increase ; 

Till the blest spirit and the bride say, " Come," 

" Exchange thy prison, for thy Father's home : 

a Enter the joy of thine exalted Lord, 

" Receive the palm, and lay aside the sword. 

" Behold my glory I see my unveil'd face, 

" And reap the fruit of my redeeming grace ; 

<e Share in the rest prepared for saints above, 

" And know for ever, that thy God is love." 



FOR A WATCH PAPER. 

Moments swiftly fly away, 

Nothing can compel their stay : 

Whither are they leading me ? 

To a vast eternity : 

To a heaven of perfect bliss, 

Or a dreadful dark abyss. 

What, my soul, then, canst thou do, 

With such prospects in thy view? 



POEMS, 



255 



Fly to Jesus, fly away, 
Not to-morrow, come to-day ' 
Come this moment, for to thee, 
It now may be eternity. 



CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE. 

Where winds, and waves, and foaming surges roar, 

With dreadful fury on the sea-girt shore ; 

At other times, the gentle zephyrs play, 

And the unruffled stream pursues its way: 

Tis thus, methinks, it passes in my soul ! 

One day the weather's fair, another, foul : 

Now tempest tost with various doubts and fears, 

My heart o'erwhelmed with woe, my eye with tears; 

Impending clouds of darkness o'er me spread, 

And id the paths of hell I seem to tread : 

I\Iy way's all strew'd with thorns, while black despair, 

Would fill the measure of my days with care. 

Oppress'd, cast down, and almost robb'd of hope, 

To the poor sinner's friend, I then look up, 

Cast at his feet, my burden and my grief, 

And there, and there alone, I find relief. 

He says to each rude passion, * Peace, be still V 

And straight it yields obedience to his will; 

He orders light, where darkness reign'd before, 

And bids me disbelieve his love no more : 

At his command, my hope once more appears, 

And flowers of Eden, deck this vale of tears ; 

To Zion bound refresh'd, I speed my way, 

And travel on by night as well as day. 

At times I sing, but oft my harp's unstrung ! 

Or set to notes which captive Israel sung, 

When they the Babylonian streams explor'd, 

And Zion's loss in plaintive strains deplored, 



256- 



POEMS. 



Yet, if my anchor's cast within the vail, 
Tho' now oppos'd by many a boist'rous gale^ 
My little vessel shall the storm outride, 
Nor fear a wreck, for Jesus is its guide. 
How oft has he been better than my fears, 
And with a promise check'd my flowing tears ; 
Met my request, prevented my desire, 
And turn'd to songs of praise, my mournful lyre, 
But Oh, what base returns my heart has made ! 
How oft his love, by coldness has been paid I 
How oft I've slighted, turn'd away my face, 
From all the invitations of his grace ! 
Yet still the same, he wooes this heart of stone, 
And makes his love, by countless mercies known. 
What can I say, dear Lord, to love so strange ? 
To love, that ail my rebel acts can't change ? 
Language here fails, an angel can't explore, 
Be hush'd then Muse, and silently adore ; 
Or if some zephyr breathe upon thy strings, 
Or passing seraph touch thee with his wings; 
Let thy best notes, resound my Saviour's praise, 
And all thy theme be his redeeming grace. 
That shall employ in heav'n my noblest powers* 
That shall on earth solace my captive hours, 
That shall my charter be to worlds above, 
And there no heav'n I'll ask, but Jesu's love. 



A WEDDING HYMN. 

Thy choicest blessings Lord impart, 
To our young friends, who now in love, 

Have join'd in bands, no more to part, 
Till call'd to happier realms above, 



POEMS. 



In wisdom's ways may they be found ! 

And pleasantness their path attend ; 
May holy peace with them abound, 

And Jesus be their constant friend ! 

In faith and knowledge may they grow 
Each day, and find that perfect love, 

Which casts out fear, and sin and woe, 
And gives a taste of joys above. 

As ivy twines around the tree, 
And holds it in a close embrace; 

So may they both, Lord, cleave to thee \ 
Upheld and strengthened by thy grace. 

As partners of the grace of life, 
May they each other's burden bear ! 

May mutual love exclude all strife, 
And kindness banish every care ! 

Thus blest and happy may they live I 
And when they're calPd by death away 

The wreck of time may they survive, 
And reign with thee in endless day. 



FOR A CHILD'S SAMPLER. 

Guide, blessed Lord, my erring feet, 

Into the way of truth ! 
And let thy word, in counsel sweet, 

Direct my heedless youth. 

To thy kind care may I resign, 
My childhood's earliest hour ; 

And grant, O Lord, by grace divine, 
My heart may feel thy pow'r ! 

May gladly own my Saviour's sway, 

And find 'tis heaven to obey. 

z 2 



POEMS. 



ON HEARING A BIRD SING AT BREAK 
OF DAY. 

Thou pretty bird, whose notes so gay, 

Salutes the near approach of day, 

By thee admonish'd, let me raise, 

My early song of joy and praise. 

Although no more, from tree to tree, 

Thou canst partake of liberty, 

And find in berries, here and there, 

A table spread without thy care : 

Although thou art no more among 

Thy native, happy, woodland throng, 

Yet still content, thou say'st to man, 

u Fill up like me, life's little span ; 

" Nor e'er presumptuously complain, 

" Nor dare God's dealings to arraign. 

" No more I fly to heaven's gate, 

" But in my cage, resign'd to fate, 

" I learn contentment, day by day, 

" And pass my captive hours away : 

u When death shall terminate my songs, 

u No future life to me belongs, 

" But this is not the case with you, 

" For heav'n, thro' grace, is in your view; 

a And in a transient space of time, 

" You'll leave this for a happier clime, 

u Where sin and sorrow all will cease, 

" To vex thy mind, to break thy peace. 

" Learn then obedience to his will, 

" Who is thy friend, thy sov'reign still, 

u W 7 hose love will give thee at the last, 

u Pleasures which never will be past. 



POEMS. 



259 



TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE 
REV. WILLIAM ELISHA FAULK NEB« B.D. 

Whilst strains of flatt'ry please the ear of kings, 
And sculptur'd monuments rehearse their fame; 
The Christian soars above such earthly things; 

The Lamb's fair book of life records his name. 
There it will stand, when kingdoms are no more, 
And all the labour'd works of art shall cease: 
The faithful witness of the Saviour's power, 
The matchless proof of his electing grace. 
To thy remembrance, O thou much lov'd friend, 

There needs no tribute of poetic praise ; 
Thy life's best comment was thy peaceful end, 

That mark'd the beauty of fair wisdom's ways. 
Thou'rt gone, — but gone to fairer worlds above, 

To see thy glorious Saviour, face to face; 
To taste the riches of redeeming love, 

And share the triumphs of his conqu'ring grace. 
My weak imperfect pray'rs, O Jesus hear ! 

May they ascend to thy bright throne above ! 
Regard the widow and the orphan's tear, 

And let them be the objects of thy love. 
May thy protecting grace their steps attend, 

And all thy future mercies to them tell i 
That tho' beneath their sorrows, now they bend, 
It shall be prov'd at last, that " all is well/'* 

* Mr, Faulkner's last words. 



POEMS, 



ON OBSERVING A DIAMOND CROSS SUSPENDED 
FROM THE NECK OF A YOUNG LADY WHO 
WAS ALIGHTING FROM A CARRIAGE AT THE 
DOOR OF COYENT GARDEN THEATRE. 

Ah \ take away that cross, nor let it shine, 
The false fair emblem of a love divine ! 
Can Christ with Belial ever make a truce? 
Or works of darkness, works of light producer 
If so, let this world's pleasure have thy praise, 
Nor seek for happiness in wisdom's ways : 
Go, let the play-house thy affections share, 
And scorn to pass an hour in secret prayer : 
But be consistent, lay aside that gem, 
That must, if thought upon, thy course condemn : 
Profess not friendship to the Saviour's cause, 
Whilst under-foot, thou'rt trampling all his laws. 
Let not the beauteous signet on thy breast. 
Whilst thou'rt in league with Satan, be caress'd, , 
But bid the one or other quick depart, 
For Christ must have an undivided heart. 



MATERNAL FEARS SUPPRESSED BY CHRISTIAN 
HOPE. 

Whilst softly slumbering on its mother's breast, 
The little babe enjoys its tranquil est, 
Careless of what may he to-morrows fare, 
Devoid of flatt ring hope, or anxious care, 



POEMS. 



26 1 



How many thoughts of joy and sorrow find, 
Alternate place, in the fond parent's mind ! 
Successive smiles, and tears without disguise, 
Beam on her cheek, and sparkle in her eyes. 
She looks, — she loves, — and while she loves — she fears, 
What sorrows may attend its future years; 
What nipping frost, or what destructive show'r, 
May urge its force against the tender flower: 
What storms may beat on its defenceless head, 
When she perhaps, is number'd with the dead : 
Hence fears arise ! hence soft emotions roll ! 
Thro' all the impassioned feelings of her soul. 

But why such anxious thoughts? cast all thy care 
On that dear Lord, who hears and answers pray'r; 
Ask him to bless thy bahe with saving grace, 
And plead the promise, u such shall see his face/' 
How many lambs are gather' d with his arm, 
And carried in his bosom, safe from harm ! 
w Ask and ye shall receive," so says the Lord, 
Believe him, trust him, take him at his word : 
Leave at his throne thy case, and let the plea, 
That children's children shall his glory see, 
Be urg'd with faith, the promise is divine, 
And shall be realized, to thee and thine : 
It shall be, — why ? because 'tis not a worm, 
'Tis not frail man, 'tis God that's to perform. 



THE SAVIOUR'S PRESENCE DELIGHTFUL* 

When I can see my Saviour's face, 

The prospect's fair around ; 
I feel his sweet reviving grace, 

And tread on heavenly ground. 



/ 



262 



POEMS. 



The pangs of absence then are o'er. 
And transport fills my heart, 

His love and grace I doubt no more. 
But bid my fears depart. 

Overcome with gratitude, I bend 

Before his cross, and see 
That Jesus is the sinner's friend, 

-And that he died for me. 

But, ah ! how soon the glorious sight 

Fades on my ravish'd view, 
For unbelief disputes my right, 

And cries " 'tis not for you." 

Bid, dearest Lord, these conflicts cease, 

Still let me be thy care ; 
My faith, my hope, my love increase, 

This, this, is all my pray'r. 



LINES WRITTEN ON THE BACK OF THE 
PROFILE SHADE QF MY MOTHER. 

Thou art gone to the regions of bliss, 

And left this dark valley of tears, 

Of thy glory, O may I not miss, 

When death in its terror appears : 

Once more we shall meet, aud, Oh, the sweet joy ! 

Which death and death's author shall never destroy, 

For Jesus has triumph'd, and reigns now on high, 

And in him we never, no never, can die. 



POEMS. 



26:1 



THE SOUL UNDER CONVICTION OF SIN . 

Wilt thou Jesus look on me, 

Vile and sinful, self-abhorr'd ; 
Dare I urge a single plea, 

To find favour with thee, Lord ? 
I own IVe none, I feel my grief, 

I feel guilt rankling deep within, 
Oh, who can bring me quick relief, 

Oh, who can blot out all my sin ? 
My crimes appear in dread array, 

They crush each hope of future joy, 
And in the awful judgment day, 

Gladly would they my soul destroy. 
Tormented thus, I know not where 

To fly for succour, but to thee; 
The law speaks terror and despair, 

But thou canst whisper peace to me. 
Dejected, robb'd of every hope, 

Cast down, but yet not cast away, 
I look to thee, O bear me up, 

And let thy grace yet win the day. 
Thy blood can cleanse from every sin, 

And satisfy the law's demand, 
Thy Spirit can destroy within, 

All that oppose my Lord's command. 
Speak Lord then speak, and let me hear, 

That thou wast crucified for me ; 
Let this blest hope dispel my fear, 

And cause me to rejoice in thee. 



264 POEMS. 




a father's tribute of affection to the 
memory of a beloved child, who fell 

ASLEEP IN JESUS, APRTL 10, 18C9- 

" Bfhoid he taketh away 1 who can hinder him? 
who will say unto him, what doest thuu?" Job, 9 ch, 12 v. 

" Oh, just beloved, and lost ! — admired, and mouru'dP 



Is thine appointed time my Richard come? 
And must thou leave thy fond parental home ? 
Where oft thy smile endeared the social hours, 
And strew'd a wilderness with Eden's flowers. 
Where hope, in prospect, viewed a summer's day, 
And fondly thought it ne'er would pass away. 
The blossom promis'd fair to set for fruit, 
But, ah ! conceal'd, a worm was at the root ! 
The glitt'ring gold was mix'd with base alloy, 
And death in sables cloth'd, terrestrial joy. 
Sweet babe ! although thy form no more I view, 
Affection feels 'tis hard to say adieu : 
Imagination will present awhile 
Thine artless ways, thy fascinating smile, 
And various objects bring to sad review, 
Joys, in their tenure frail, as early dew. 
Those eyes that often sparkl'd with delight, 
Are clos'd, no more to bless a parent's sight : 
Those little hands, that with a native grace, 
Patted well pleas'd, or strok'd a father's face, 
Or with thy frock, at peep-bo play'd and smil'd, 
And ah, too soon, th' unwary heart beguil'd ! 
Those outstretch'd arms that spoke thy infant heart, 
(3 lad to behold Papa, and loath to part: 



POEMS. 



Those lips, on which affection oft imprest 
The tender kiss, while the parental breast 
Beat with emotions of unfeigned joy/ 
At the lov'd sight of the dear darling boy. 
Ah ! hard must be that heart that cannot sigh, 
To see such lovely blossoms fade and die ! 
But raise thy drooping thoughts above the skies, 
For hark ! methinks the happy Spirit cries : 

" Weep not for me, — nor dare arraign thy God, 
" But learn instruction from his chastening rod. 
" Ephraim shall have no idol in his heart, , 
" You lov'd me much, 'twas needful we should part ; 
u Lest thoughts of things divine, and ardent pray'r, 
" Should all give way to base low-thoughted care. 
a Lest this ensnaring world should be thy rest, 
u I'll plant, says God, a briar in thy nest : 
u Thy gourds all wither'd, and thy cisterns broke, 
" Thou'jt learn to bear with ease, the Saviour's yoke; 
u And when all earthly good appears to flee, 
" For perfect happiness, thou'lt look to me. 

a Weep not for me — my mother ! tho' thy breast, 
" No more can be my much-lov'd place of rest; 
" Tho' round thy neck, my amis no more are twin'd, 
" In love reciprocal, we still are join'd; 
" For death has not dissolv'd the mutual tie, 
" On earth 'twas lovely, and 'tis so on high. 
" Ah, well didst thou discharge the mother's part, 
u And much I lov'd thee ! Oft my little heart 
" Express'd the grateful sense I had of this, 
" In language known to mothers best, — a kiss. 
" What tho' my breathless corpse to dust returns, 
u My Spirit near the throne, in rapture burns. 
" The one sleeps sound, till judgment's hast'ning day, 
" The other swift to glory, flies away. 



£66 



POEMS. 



H Then wait with patience the appointed hour, 
H When death, commissioned by a gracious power, 
" Will land thee safe upon that peaceful shore, 
" Where we shall meet, to say farewell no more. 

" W r eep not for me, — I'm sheltered from each storm ; 
€i Thro' grace divine, I bear my Saviour's form ; 
" The wilderness no more is my abode, 
" Nor prickly thorns infest my heav'nly road. 
u No dire convulsion ere more stops my breath, 
" A stranger now am I to sin and death. 
" Millions of saints my warm affections share, 
" Thy little bird's escap'd from ev'ry snare, 
u And as I wing my aerial way above, 
w I sing with all around me, — " God is love." 

" Weep not for me — sav'd by almighty grace, 
" I've gain'd the prize, tho' I ne'er ran the race : 
u Work'd but one hour, while I've receiv'd the pay, 
" Of those who've borne the burden of the day. * 
H A victor crown'd before the battle's fought, 
" The palm, by Jesu's blood, for infants bought. 
" Anchor'd in haven fair, no storms annoy, 
" Nor earth nor hell, can ere my soul destroy : 
" In Adam's guilt, no more I feel distress, 
" Absolv'd through Jesu's blood and righteousness. 
" I claim a right to sing the loudest strain, 

Thus early taken from a world of pain, 
u Caught in a moment, to my Saviour's breast, 
u Sure I've a right to sing above tL^rest. 

" Weep not for me, — but struggle for awhile, 
" And thou shuit have release from ali thy toil : 
" Go fight tLc buttles of thy conqu'ring Lurd, 
u I rust in the promise of his sacred word: 



POEMS. 



" His grace can make thee bear the heaviest cross, 
" His presence recompense the greatest loss : 
" His strength can give thee victory o'er thy foes, 
" His spirit sanctify thy deepest woes. 
u Thus as the sun shines thro' an April show'r, 
" Joy shall succeed the present painful hour; 
u The heated furnace, and the chast'ning rod, 
" Shall only urge thy way to heav'n and God, 
" And all thy tribulation and distress, 
" Yield the fair fruits of peace and righteousness. 
* Thus shall thy work produce in future years, 
" A joyful harvest, tho' now sown in tears, 
'* And we shall meet, to sing in realms above, 
u For ever, and for ever, — " God is love." 



FINIS. 



J. Dennett, Printer, Leather Lane, Londou 



ERRATA. 



Page, 


Line. 




7 


last hut one for " finally" read " finally." 


20 


11 omit 


" but." 


96 


8 for " 


Scoth" read " Scotch," 




21 for " 


yourselves" read " yourself." 


ll'i 


16 for" 


encreased" read " increased*" 


122 


6 for" 


our's" read " ours." 


146 


27 for « 


nchangeable" read " unchangeable." 


143 


7 for " 


increased" read " increasing.*' 


166 


1 for « 


his affections" read " its affections." 


186 


8 for " 


were" read " was" 


189 


last for u 


' of the earth" read " on the earth." 


215 


last for ' 


* of a heart" read " from a heart." 


234 


14 for « 


bed erived" read " be derived " 



Just published, Ninth Edition, 

Price 2d. or 12s. 6d. per hundred, for distribution 
in Sunday Schools. 

Extracts from the Letters and Diary of Mr. Fre- 
derick Lukin Russell, who departed this life, after a 
sudden illness of two days, July 19, 1811, aged twenty- 
six years; with a short memoir and account of his 
dying experience, communicated by his brother, in a 
letter to a Sunday School Teacher. 

" Thro' Nature's wreck, thro' vanquished agonies, 
Like the stars struggling thro' this midnight gloom, 
What i>leams of joy ! — what more than human peace ! 
Where the frail mortal? — the poor abject worm? 
No, not in death, the mortal to be found. 
His conduct is a legacy to all. 7 ' 

You KG. 



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